Game Show Love Connection
by roxystyle011
Summary: Quinn is begrudgingly partnered up with Rachel for one of Mr. Schuester's lame weekly assignments, by the first day they've already managed to go above and beyond their expectations. Faberry.
1. Chapter 1

Quinn couldn't understand where these feelings came from. In fact, she was having a hard time understanding how it was that she was in this predicament in the first place, let alone remembering her life before the Glee Club. The head cheerleader had it all at one point in her seemingly perfect life, she was the head of the celibacy club, queen of the school, her and her oblivious boyfriend were the power couple, she was the it girl. Sometimes when she thinks back to her previous life, she can pinpoint the exact moment when her life fell into shambles, the moment her boyfriend, Finn, took a leap of faith and joined the small, yet socially suicidal Glee Club. As a matter of fact, she could credit the club to her eventual and unavoidable downfall, it was after all the reason that everything happened in the first place.

New Directions, she'd often laugh at the name, how could she have not seen how much truth there was to that statement. Her life had taken a new direction all right, and as much as she wanted to she couldn't use the musical club as a scapegoat, she really couldn't blame it at all. Everything that had happened had been somewhat her choice, she was fully aware of what was going on, and in hindsight she couldn't imagine changing a single thing. It all started with the feeling of jealousy, her boyfriend was juggling three very different extra-curricular activities, not if you count dealing with the high maintenance that is Quinn Fabray. He'd settled in nicely with the rest of the losers as she once called them, in fact he even managed to catch the eye of arch rival Rachel Berry. She nearly jumped at the idea that her cheerleading coach suggested, to infiltrate the club and bring it down from the inside. Her cover was set, she just wanted a viable way to get into the club and see what all the rage was about. She couldn't stand it at first, but soon developed an emotional attachment to the personalities and the music. She had her fair share of ups and downs along the way, mostly downs. Her pregnancy was an unexpected detour, she was kicked out of her home and she managed to break her boyfriend's heart when he needed it the most. Even when she was bouncing from house to house, unloved and having a child out of wedlock, even when it cost her the queen bee status, cost her the cheerleading captainship, she couldn't blame herself. All she ever wanted was the passion.

She was unhappy with her old life, though you wouldn't be able to tell had you known her, her fake smile was plastered on day in and day out, almost as ritual as her cheerleading uniform. She was searching for something else, her boyfriend couldn't find his way out of a potato sack, her parent's marriage was so obviously in jeopardy, and her only friends wore the same outfit as her every day. She didn't know what she was looking for, her main priority was to fill the void. Her boyfriend's best friend, Noah, more commonly known as Puck, an abbreviation to his last name Puckerman, was someone that intrigued her. Her intrigue led her to the unwanted pregnancy, but she also got a glimpse of the passion she was desperately searching for. She didn't know how it happened but it started with a feeling within her, and it landed her underneath him in a heated make out session, her heart beating fast and her reasoning out the window. She entertained the idea of Puck for the length of her pregnancy, knowing she wouldn't be able to get through it alone. She often would stare at Finn, wondering if she made the wrong decision when she would see him interacting with the unbearable Rachel Berry. She knew that she hadn't, but she was beginning to understand that the feeling she had in the pit of her stomach was only getting stronger. Jealously, which got her to this moment in her life in the first place, was resurfacing, only this time it was for a different reason.

The summer came and went, like always. The anticipation of the freedom that summer brought often made it feel like it was taking an eternity to arrive. With the nervousness surrounding Regionals, everyone seemed to forget that summer was just a few weeks away. The end of school came painfully, especially without Glee club to take the edge off. The beginning of summer was as sweet as ever, with only summer reading to worry about, everyone quickly fell into their lazy routines that they'd grown to love. Towards the end of the season however, everyone was ready to be back at McKinley, the summer proving to be far too boring for them. Of course, the night before the first day of school each and every one of them regretted ever wanting summer to hurry up and be done with. With the exception of Kurt, who had spent hours picking out his wardrobe choices for the week ahead, everyone was miserable as they laid in their beds, dreading the school work and drama to come at them for the next year. Puck however was hoping there would be a new young teacher that he could pine after for the next year.

Just like every other first week of school, the classes were light, everyone still getting familiar with the new year, the homework was minimal and the majority of the students played catch up in their spare time. Friday finally came and was welcomed with open arms, as if the students just didn't have 3 months full of Friday's.

"How was everyone's first week of school?" the Spanish teacher asked as the students filed into the choir room that acted as their second home during the school year

Rachel raised her hand, to which one Quinn Fabray rolled her eyes.

"Rachel you don't have to raise your hand" Mr. Schuester commented

Relentless, Rachel kept her hand raised waiting to be called on.

The teacher sighed, "Okay, Rachel" he pointed to the girl to which she happily began speaking

"Well I for one had a fantastic summer spent away at the show choir camp of America, however I found that after my fifth week, the talent and rivalry was no longer challenging, regardless of the fact that I won every camp competition, I stuck through it because winners never quit, and my dad's paid for all seven weekly sessions" she let out in a breath

"You're telling me that the diva camp was only one week long but you stayed for all 7?"

Rachel shot a glare at Kurt before continuing, "I think I can speak for the group in its entirety and say that everyone's summer was spent not improving their ever so crucial vocal strength and stage presence, so I demand to know what you're going to do, as our mentor, to help us get ready for Sectionals, which is in exactly 3 months"

Everyone in the room stared at the brunette, before Finn spoke up.

"Well I went to football camp" he said shyly, rubbing his palms on his khaki cargo shorts

Rachel gestured to her classmate, near tears and looked to Mr. Schuester who could only sigh.

"Rachel's right"

Half of the room was about to yell at him before he held his hands up, "She's right, we'll need to think of new and creative ways to best our competition, last year was an experiment, and we did phenomenal, we know we can compete, and now we can turn up our game" he told the group, "It's important to be comfortable with each other on the stage, you guys did a great job of that at Regionals but we can always improve, so I thought of an exercise to get us in better shape"

Half of the students groaned, while Rachel clapped excitedly.

"Each week, you'll get a partner, starting today. They're going to be your best friend for the week, you'll learn everything about them, likes and dislikes, you'll be comfortable with them, every Friday you'll give a brief presentation on them and the two of you will perform a duet that somehow describes your relationship"

Again the students were about to yell at their instructor, before he cut them off, "I've already made up my mind on this one" he told them

Kurt spoke up, "Mr. Shue, shouldn't we be spending our time practicing songs and our choreography?"

"Don't you guys see? In order to be comfortable on the stage, you need to be comfortable with each other" he told them

"I think this is a wonderful idea Mr. Schuester" Rachel spoke up

"Thank you Rachel, now I've already chosen partners, and don't worry because every week it will change until you've had everyone" he forewarned, knowing that at least someone will complain. He made his way over to a manila folder which held everyone's fate.

He glanced down at the piece of paper before looking back up at the waiting students.

"Now, I thought it would be best to start with partnering you up with your friend, to get the ball rolling" he said

"First group, Mercedes and Kurt"

The two turned towards each other, slapping high fives before tossing back their hair, imaginary hair for Kurt.

"Tina and Artie"

The two shared a secret smile.

"Mike and Matt"

The boys gave each other a high five before doing a stationary dance move.

"Santana and Britney"

The two girls smiled at each other, as Brittany rested her head on Santana's shoulder.

Quinn watched as the already announced pairs sat happily with their partners. She looked around, noticing that the only 3 left besides her were Puck, Finn, and Rachel. Surely she'd be stuck with Puck, and suddenly she was not looking forward to the week ahead.

"Puck and Finn"

"What? Mr. Schuester that's bull"

The two boys high fived.

"I thought you said that you were pairing friends together" Quinn announced, not pleased with the news that her partner was Rachel Berry

"Sorry Quinn, that's how it worked out. I think it will be beneficial to you and the group if you and Rachel learn how to get along early in the year" he told them

The blonde crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the back of the brunettes head. Rachel turned around timidly and offered the girl a small smile, to which Quinn ignored. She didn't know why she had lashed out like that, she felt like it was expected that she would, so she did. She felt bad that Rachel was on the receiving end of her anger.

"Mr. Shue" Rachel spoke up, "I believe that it is in our best interest if you require a mandatory get together for us this weekend, to help speed along the re-getting to know you process a little better"

"Great idea, who wants to volunteer to have everyone over"

Every one's hands remained in their laps, avoiding eye contact incase he attempted to randomly pick someone.

"I'll offer my house, I'm sure my dad's will love to entertain everyone with their rendition of Rent and I'm sure the group will love to watch my home videos of performances starting when I was the prime age of 4 years old" Rachel finished wide eyed, looking around hoping to see everyone just as excited

Quinn rolled her eyes, "I'll have it"

Everyone let out a sigh of relief.

"Do you even have a home?" Puck asked smugly

"Yes wise ass, I'm back at my mom's and she's gone for the weekend" Quinn shot back at him

"So it's settled, Quinn's house for your Glee get together, I really think that this is a great start to the new year guys, I'm really excited about.."

"Knock Knock, William"

All the eyes in the room looked toward the wooden door; the tall blonde strode into the classroom looking superior and confident.

"What do you want Sue?" he asked the woman, holding the bridge of his nose, already tired of having to see her every day.

"I feel foolish, we've been back at this place that I like to call my kingdom for almost a week and I've yet to properly welcome you and your minions back"

"I'm sure we would have gotten along fine without you, thanks for stopping by Sue"

"Nonsense William" She said studying the ceiling, "Ya know, you should think about getting some new light fixtures in here, the reflection off of your hair is creating a glare so wicked that it makes me reconsider my personal belief that wearing sunglasses indoors is only for hippies and ugly people" she finished triumphantly before turning to the rest of the students seated on the other side of the room.

"And you, don't think for a second that by granting you another year to prove how incapable you all are at winning, that I've somehow demonstrated any form of weakness towards you and your pathetic group of misfits. Mercy will not be shown, on any level, including but not limited to, sabotage, blackmail and my personal favorite, public humiliation. Look alive kids, Sue Sylvester spent her summer days drinking protein shakes, running 5 minute miles, and drawing up ways to make this year one of the most difficult and tear inducing years of your lives. No one is safe, including you prego, and you as well queer eye, have I made myself clear? Good, enjoy the feeling of ignorance now, it's going to rain regret and tears when I'm through with all of you."

With a turn of her heel she left just as quickly as she came.

Everyone was silent, and frankly a little frightened.

"Don't let her get to you, it's just proof that we're a threat to her"

Still everyone stayed silent.

"All right, I guess that's all for today, have a good weekend and have fun tonight, I'll see you all Monday" He announced before he grabbed his leather side bag, hoping to catch Principle Figgins to discuss the threat policy at the school.

The group lingered around to get the details of the night to come, they'd all be lying if they said they weren't looking forward to it. Puck and Finn were ready to get away from their football team, since their preseason started almost a month earlier. Kurt was looking forward to offering up some tips on hygiene and make-up application that he learned over the summer, while Tina and Artie were excited to spend some time together. Rachel was beside herself, knowing that she had plans on a Friday night, Quinn was also hiding a smile that she'd have interaction with people, she was not looking forward to a weekend by herself in her large and lonely house.

She was expecting the group to come over sometime around 6:00, Quinn clearly didn't need to straighten up her house as the maid visited twice a week, and neither her nor her mother made quite a mess by themselves. She decided to take the cash left on the counter for her and use some of it towards snacks and beverages for the teens, knowing that for the boys, a few pizzas wouldn't be enough for them. She wanted it to be homey for them, almost like a sleepover setting, she'd crave some kind of high school normalcy. She rarely hosted events such as these and she wanted to make a good impression, for reasons unbeknownst to her.

The doorbell rang a few times, and each time more and more people loaded into her oversized house. She shuffled them into her family room, where she'd put a few bowls out of some of the salty snacks, as well as the liters of soda for her house guests. She'd brought up a few bean bag chairs from the basement to give them some more options of seating. She wasn't sure how it was supposed to go but she made a list of things that they could do, should they become bored, or tired of hearing Rachel talk about herself.

"This is a truly fantastic idea, I know for a fact that Vocal Adrenaline gets together every Saturday night for massages and herbal tea, as a way to bond with each other" Rachel gushed as the entire group was sitting around the room.

"How do you know that?" Brittany asked before turning to Santana more discreetly, "Is she on both teams?"

"Of course not Brittany, not even I can pull of an exhausting task such as that. Jesse may have mentioned it" the girl trailed off, suddenly wanting to avoid the conversation

Finn groaned and most of the rest of them sighed in annoyance.

"Girl, please tell me that he told you that when you were dating and not recently"

"Well"

"Oh for the love of baby jesus, Rachel when are you going to learn" Kurt asked

Rachel immediately got defensive.

"He's really changed, as respectable performers I think it's in everyone's best interest that we leave the past behind us and turn a new leaf" Rachel told the group

None of them believed her, they all knew it was only a matter of time before he hurt the fragile girl yet again. As much as they liked to rag on the girl, they all cared about her, especially because when he would hurt Rachel, he would hurt the team's pride.

The doorbell rang again, Quinn got up quickly knowing it was most likely the pizza, and she needed to get out of that room swiftly. She kicked the door closed and brought the pizza into the kitchen to lay all of the boxes on the table for the group.

"Pizza's here" she announced

Everyone with the exception of Artie and Rachel hurriedly made their way to grab slices, one by one the group came back in, trying to get in the same seats that they were in moments before. Tina handed Artie a plate and a glass of soda and sat next to him. Quinn came back in to see Rachel digging into her bag, pulling out a Tupperware container.

"Berry, what are you doing?" the blonde asked

"Oh well, I prepared for an occasion such as this, I figured that you would be ordering pizza, and who am I to inconvenience you, after all I am a vegan"

"I'm aware" the blonde cut her off, pointing her thumb back over her shoulder, "Which is why I ordered you their vegan pizza"

The rest of the group watched the exchange carefully, it seemed that Rachel wasn't the only one shocked by this kind gesture.

"Oh. Well," Rachel started, "That was very considerate of you Quinn, thank you" she said as she put her Tupperware container back into her bag and stood to go into the kitchen.

"Whatever" the blonde mumbled, making her way back into the kitchen to get her own plate .

And she was back, Rachel thought.

The two were the only ones in the kitchen and you could cut the tension easily, Rachel opened the small box, smiling to herself at the thought that this was the first time that someone took the brunette's life choice into consideration.

"Did you want to try it?" Rachel asked timidly, looking towards the blonde

"What does it taste like?" the blonde asked cautiously

She had wanted to try a piece, wondering if it was something she could eat on a regular basis. She wasn't a huge pizza eater but enjoyed the sporadic pig out now and then.

"Well it's pizza, without the cheese, whole-grain dough, and fresh vegetables. This one looks delicious" Rachel commented

"Well I did call 4 places until I found a restaurant that made it" Quinn hadn't meant to let it slip just how much effort she put into making the girl feel comfortable.

Rachel stared at the girl for a moment, wondering who this person was. It seemed the summer had made her softer than ever.

The blonde sighed, annoyed with herself, she held her plate out, "What are you waiting for?" she asked with a slight hint of irritation in her voice.

Rachel came back to reality and quickly gave Quinn a slice of the pizza. The blonde was the first one to leave the kitchen, Rachel stayed back to pour herself a glass of water before making her way back to where the rest of the club was sitting and enjoying their food.

"So what are we supposed to be doing tonight?" Puck asked the group, once he finished his 4th slice of pizza

Rachel went to open her mouth.

"If you say practice or sing, I _will _cut you" Kurt told the girl seriously

"I was just going to say, we should play a get to know you game, ya know where we can get to know our partners" Rachel spoke shyly, chancing a glance at her partner who was avoiding eye contact

"What like newlyweds?" Santana asked

"Oh, I call Santana" Brittany raised her hand

"She's already your partner Einstein" Puck told the cheerleader

Someone hurled a pillow at the boys Mohawk, presumably Santana.

"A variation I suppose" The brunette started, thinking out a way she could make it work, "We could all write questions and put them in a bowl, and then everyone can write their answers on a piece of paper and we could try to guess our partners answers"

"Sounds boring"

Another pillow was hurled at Puck's head, this time it unmistakably came from Quinn's side of the room, her glare towards the boy made her seem even guiltier.

"I think it's a good idea" Tina spoke up

"Yeah, well you're all going down" Mercedes announced, "Me and my man have this on lock" she high fived Kurt next to her

"Oh, it's so on" Puck smirked nodding to Finn, "There is no way you guys can beat us" he told the rest of the group cockily.

"Oh please" Quinn sighed

"What you think that you and your best friend Rupaul could beat us? Good luck, we should all spot you points" Puck told her

She wanted to throw another pillow at the boys head but at some point, enough was enough.

The blonde looked sadly at the brunette who was across the room.

"I'm just going to go get some paper" the brunette spoke up

"The office is the last door on the left" Quinn told her

Once she was out of earshot, she narrowed her eyes back to Puck.

"Do you have to be _such_ an ass?" she asked him

"You're going to get all self-righteous on me now?" Puck asked her

"Like you know what that even means" she snarled back

"As big of an ass as he is, he's right Quinnie, there's no way you guys are going to win" Santana offered

"Whatever" She mumbled as the brunette made her way back into the room, handing out pieces of paper and writing utensils.

The group of kids started to write down questions for the bowl, Finn bit his lip trying to think of a good one while Puck smirked evilly at the questions he came up with. Once everyone wrote about 2 questions down and put them in a bowl, the group got into a circle, sitting respectfully next to their partners.

"Who's keeping score?" Puck asked

"Clearly not you, you can't add to save your life" Quinn told the boy

"I'll do it" Tina announced, "Is everyone ready?"

"Whoa whoa, what are the terms. What do the winners get" Finn asked

"Loser's strip" Puck announced

Everyone ignored the boys sexually active mind.

"Bragging rights"

"And winner's get a solo" Rachel added

"Whatever, let's do this"

Tina pulled out a piece of paper and uncrumpled it.

"What is your favorite musical number that you've done whilst in Glee and why"

Everyone rolled their eyes and looked towards Rachel who was animatedly writing away.

Once everyone looked up, Tina continued.

"Okay Puck, what do you think Finn answered?" she asked

Puck thought about it, "Jesse's Girl, because he's a homo" he said

Kurt smacked him on the arm, "I resent that"

Finn held up his piece of paper which revealed the words **Jesse's Girl – He was an ass**

"Sorry looks like you didn't get the full answer right" Mercedes announced

"Bullshit, at least give me half credit"

Everyone looked around, "Fine" Tina said, "Finn, your turn"

"Um, Sweet Caroline, and I don't know the reason" he said

Puck held up his paper to show **Sweet Caroline – power to the jews **

"Okay team 'fuck' gets 1 point, moving on" Quinn announced

Tina giggled, "Kurt and Mercedes" she said gesturing to them

"Well, Mercedes obviously has written down Hate on Me because she killed it" he told the group

She held up her card to show everyone that he was correct, "And Kurt of course said Bad Romance because Lady Gaga is a musical genius"

Kurt held up his card revealing **Bad Romance – Icon**

"We're next" Tina announced, "Artie's favorite performance was definitely Proud Mary, because it was fun to be with all of us in the wheel chair" she said

"Correct, and Tina's first real solo of course True Colors" he smiled and they shared a moment

"Okay our turn, Brittany doesn't have a favorite performance" Santana announced

"She's right, I don't even know what I'm doing here" the blonde announced, "Santana liked the Lady Gaga song because we got to dress up" Brittany told everyone straight faced

"Correct"

"Did they really just get full points for that?" Kurt whispered

"Mike and Matt, what about you guys?"

"Mike said anything with dancing" Matt attempted

Mike gave him a high five, "And Matt said Give up the Funk, his favorite song"

Both boys were correct.

Rachel and Quinn were next.

"Have fun answering that question Quinn" one of them joked

She thought about it for a few minutes, she wanted to prove everyone wrong, that she wasn't the cold hearted person that she showed everyone.

"My life would suck without you" she said suddenly, coming to a realization, "Because you meant it, the lyrics I mean" she said more softly looking towards the brunette who's eyes were wide.

She wordlessly held of the piece of paper to reveal the words **My life would suck without you: my life sucked before Glee**

"Whoa" someone whispered

"Weird" Kurt added

Rachel cleared her throat, looking hesitantly towards the blonde, "Keep Holding On, you realized Glee was your family"

"Even weirder" Mercedes whispered

There was a lull of silence that came over the room, the blonde had her eyes trained on the carpet.

Finally someone spoke up, "Okay next question, Who did you lose your virginity to"

Everyone looked at Puck who held his hands up in defense.

"Puck slept with Debbie Marshall last year" Finn announced

"Oh yeah, a Senior" he patted himself on the back, "and Finn lost his to Berry" Puck said

"Um actually" he cleared his throat holding up the piece of paper to reveal the name Santana.

Most of the room gasped, unaware of this news.

"Next" Santana said to get the spotlight off of her

"Easy, Kurt is a virgin" Mercedes announced

"And so is Mercedes" he replied

"Wrong, this summer I met this boy" she replied timidly

Everyone went wide eyes but clapped, the girls congratulating her.

"Virgin" Artie said

"Virgin" Tina replied

"Also wrong, I told you it worked" Artie replied somewhat embarrassed

"Gross" Puck gagged

"Brittany can't remember" Santana announced

"It's true" she replied, "And Santana lost it to the janitor" Brittany announced

"No B, the janitor's son" she clarified

Everyone looked on with a strange expression but decided to let it go.

Mike spoke up, "I have no idea"

"Yeah, I don't either"

They both announced, not getting any points for the round.

"Clearly she was impregnated by Noah" Rachel announced

Quinn thought she knew the answer to this question for Rachel. She thought it would clearly be Finn, she saw how dreamily she stared at him, but with news of Finn losing it to Santana, she wasn't sure. She knew that if Rachel had sex with him before Santana did than he would have lost his virginity to her. Around the same time, she was dating Jesse. Someone who didn't even cross her mind. It made sense why Rachel was so clingy to the boy, but then again, he was so obviously gay that it didn't make sense to her.

She took a heavy sigh, going over her options once again before announcing, "She's a virgin"

Rachel nodded.

"I can't believe that you guys are in the lead right now" Finn said

The two shared a look and immediately looked away, they couldn't believe it either.

"Next question; Would you hook up with your partner if it would save the world"

Again everyone looked towards the boy with the Mohawk, "Okay that one was not me" he told them all

"Oh that's mine" Brittany said proudly.

"This question is stupid, Pick another" Quinn told them

"No way, that's cheating"

"Fine then I'm done playing" the blonde told them all

"Sit down and answer the question Barbie" Puck told her

"Puck and Finn, you're first" Tina told them

"Hell no" Puck said right away

"He's right, and I know he said no as well"

"Yes" Kurt announced

"Yes" Mercedes told them

Both getting points for that, they felt surely good about their lead, doubting the current leaders would get this one right.

"Do we even have to answer this question?" Tina asked

"Point taken" Kurt replied, "Moving on"

"Do _we _evenhave to answer this question?" Santana asked

"Another point taken" Kurt replied again

Both Mike and Matt answered no, earning a nod from the other group that said no.

"Quinn and Rachel?" everyone looked towards them, curious of their answers

The blonde looked down at the answer she scribbled on the piece of paper, deciding to try and back out once more.

"I'm seriously not playing" she said again trying to stand up, "Let's play something else, this game is stupid" she was desperate to find a way out.

"I thought you guys were going to win" Mercedes teased

"Guess we'll never know, and you'll never have your bragging rights" Puck tempted her

"Fine" she gritted her teeth, "I'm sure Rachel said yes like some kind of freak" she regretted the words that came out of her mouth immediately, wincing.

"Well, it did say to save the world, and who am I to deny humanity the chance to live a full life, so yes, I said yes" she told the group

Quinn felt horrible for making the brunette feel bad once again.

"And judging from your answer I'm sure you said No" Rachel continued

The blonde looked at her answer once again, deciding finally what to do.

"You're right, we win. Good job" she said dryly

Rachel felt dejected for a moment but couldn't understand why, it was nothing that she wasn't used to.

"Show us your piece of paper" Puck announced, "I want proof, because if you just beat us, I want it to be legit"

"You're not getting my piece of paper" she told him, about to rip it up before Santana grabbed it out of her hand, her eyes going wide at what she found.

"She lied" Santana said out loud

Kurt grabbed the piece of paper out of her hands, surely he misheard and had to read it for himself.

"You said yes?" he asked

"Whatever, we still tied for first, it doesn't matter" she told them, embarrassed at their laughter

Rachel stayed quiet, unsure of what to do with this newfound information. It wouldn't have been as big of a deal if Quinn didn't try to lie on her answer. She didn't understand why she wrote it down to begin with if she was going to change her mind. But the even bigger issue is that she answered yes.

"Oh this is great" Puck clapped as he laughed

"Noah, enough" Rachel snapped at him

He stopped smiling at the brunettes tone.

Suddenly the opening chords to Seasons of Love blasted through a phone, Rachel grabbed the phone and opened it to reveal a video message from her former fling Jesse.

She narrowed her eyes so she could read the message attached and watch a few seconds of the video before putting the phone down and leaving the room in a hurry.

"What just happened?" Finn asked

"Looks like Jesse sent her a message, and I'm guessing it wasn't very nice"

Mercedes grabbed the phone and read the message out loud, "Have fun in last place with the losers, and the video sounds like they're singing Don't stop Believing, oh hell no"

"That's it, I'm tired of this St. James kid, we need to pay him a little visit" Puck said defensively, "No one takes our song"

"What do you expect we do? Tee-pee his house?" Quinn asked rolling her eyes, "Grow up"

"Actually that's exactly what we should do, maybe some eggs too" he grinned wickedly

Finn jumped up, as well as Matt and Mike, all making up their minds. The rest of the group got up excitedly and started to plot.

"Rachel will never let you do that" Quinn told them

"Then stay here with her, saving the world" Puck smirked

She wanted to hit him but knew that she needed to somehow convince the brunette to go along with it or else their entire mission would be compromised. There was no way the blonde was going to stay out of this, she was sick and tired of Jesse being an asshole.

Quinn sighed, Mercedes approached her.

"Girl, you should go talk to her, we're going to need his address anyway" she reminded her

"We're going to go to the store to get supplies, text us the address when you get it" Puck called over to her.

He rounded up the troops and they were gone without another minute to waste. The blonde sighed, running her ringers through her hair, she had no idea how she got stuck with this job, for a minute she blamed Mr. Schuester for choosing the partners this way. She began to walk towards the direction that Rachel ran off to, hearing her on the other side of the door, she knocked timidly on it.

Rachel looked up, embarrassed that she was letting the boy get the best of her.

"Look Rach- Berry" she corrected "Jesse's a jerk, you shouldn't let him get to you" the blonde started

The brunette blew her nose, "I know he's a jerk, I just thought he changed" she told the girl, "I feel foolish"

"Aw c'mon don't say that" the blonde told her, "It happens to the best of us"

In a rare moment of sincerity, the blonde was completely vulnerable to the brunette.

"Everyone left" Quinn told her

Rachel looked up sadly, mad at herself that she ruined the evening.

Quinn realized what she must have been thinking, "Not like that, they actually went to go to the store to get toilet paper and eggs" she told her

"Why would they need those things? Who's house are they going to?" she asked but then knew the answer almost immediately

She laughed through her tears, "So this is what it feels like to have someone defend your honor" she commented

"We should go, so we don't miss out on the fun" the blonde told her, reaching out her hand to help the brunette up

Rachel nodded, taking the girls hand that she was offering and they made their way out to Quinn's car.

Along the way, the blonde called the ring leader to let him know the address of their target.

She hung up and Rachel looked at her expectedly, "He said we should keep look out"

Rachel nodded.

"Look Quinn" she started

"Save it, Berry"

She knew where this conversation was going and she really didn't want to have it, not now, not ever.

"I just want to know how you knew, ya know, about the song" Rachel asked

The blonde sighed in relief, thinking she was going to bring up the other question. She tapped her fingers on her steering along to the soft music as she thought about how to answer.

"I remember when you suggested we sing it to Mr. Schuester, after Sectionals, I don't know when you sang it, it was like you were singing about your life" Quinn offered, she really didn't know why it came to her

Rachel nodded understandingly, thought she really didn't.

"Look, I know that you're not thrilled with Mr. Shue right now because he partnered us up"

"I didn't say that"

"In so many words" Rachel reminded her

The blonde knew that she was right so she decided to stay quiet.

"and I know you hate me, which makes matters worse for the situation"

"Okay, I definitely don't hate you, I don't hate anyone" she told the girl, needing the brunette to understand how much truth was behind her statement

"Well I know you're not, but I'm glad that we're partners" the brunette admitted

The blonde stayed quiet once again, not having anything to offer the girl next to her in such close quarters. She spent the rest of the ride biting her lip, hoping that would be enough to prevent her from saying something too forward or leading.

The brunette directed the blonde to park down the road as to not alert Jesse's household of their presence. There were few lights on in the house, and it was already dark outside. Soon enough almost all of the Glee club made their way to the sidewalk where the girls were standing and waiting. The adrenaline was pumping through them, almost like they were about to go on stage.

"Alright, we got enough eggs and TP to cover this mother" Puck announced, divvying up the supplies.

"Everyone stay with your partners so no one gets left behind, we're going to toilet paper the place and once we're done we'll all throw the eggs but we've gotta be quick, he'll hear them and come out so we have to run"

"What do you want me to do?" Rachel asked eagerly

"You guys should keep watch through a window, plus we don't want him seeing you out here" Finn told her

She chanced a glance at the blonde next to her, who just shrugged and began walking towards the side of the house, finding a window she could see through and crouching next to it. Fortunately the window was shielded by bushes.

The girls could see into it with ease, and luckily they had a perfect view of the boy who seemed to be talking to someone out of view from the girls.

"This is exciting" Rachel whispered

The blonde refrained from showing her smile and remained emotionless.

"I thought that you and Finn had sex" Quinn suddenly said

The brunette looked at her confused until she realized that just a short while ago they were playing a very revealing game.

"Why did you think that?" she asked perplexed

"I just assumed, I don't know, the way you look at him, I just figured" the blonde began backtracking her statements and started sounding silly

"Finn was, he wasn't what I thought he was" Rachel admitted

The blonde's ears perked up, recalling that she thought similar of the boy once upon a time.

"I don't know, I think half of his appeal was that I never thought he would be interested in me, and then he was but I found he was just…"

"Dull?" the blonde finished

The brunette made eye contact with the girl, "Yeah"

"I know exactly what you mean"

The two girls were silent for a bit, as they heard soft laughter in the background and whispers.

"He told me he loved me before we went on for Regionals" Rachel said

Quinn looked shocked, staring at the girl. Rachel bit her lip, she was the first person that she told of the exchange that night.

"What did you say back?" The blonde found herself asking, almost involuntarily

The brunette shook her head, "Nothing, I mean I could have, loved him, at one point, I'm not so sure anymore" she said quietly

The blonde thought over the girls words, unsure of what to do with this newfound information. She hated to admit it but at the news that Rachel didn't reciprocate Finn's words left her feeling somewhat…relieved.

"Can I ask you something?"

Quinn only looked at the girl to let her know her answer.

"Why did you sleep with Puck, if you were dating Finn" the brunette knew that she was going to be verbally bitch slapped for overstepping her boundaries as the girls acquaintance, she was practically wincing in preparation.

The blonde sighed, "passion" she answered much to the brunettes surprise, "Puck was unfamiliar, dangerous, I knew it was wrong, I knew there would be consequences, but I guess I wanted that, it felt…good" she finished softly

Rachel bit her lip, not wanting to admit that she knew exactly what the girl was talking about.

"So why didn't you do it with Jesse?" she asked after some silence

"I thought I was ready, only to realize that I wasn't, and then I lost my chance once he made it clear where his loyalty resided, I guess I was better off" the brunette shrugged, "though I don't believe I am"

The blonde took her eyes off of the window and turned to look at the girl next to her.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not over him" she finally admitted, "Even though he's done all these horrible things to me, I keep thinking that maybe he'll come to his senses, I don't know what I'll do if he ever starts dating someone else, I keep holding onto him because I'm hoping that what we had was real, the passion, everything. I'd be devastated if I found out it wasn't"

Quinn studied the girl, seeing how dejected she was, it was truly heartbreaking. The brunette trained her eyes on the ground, damn the vocal adrenaline asshole for making her doubt herself.

She looked back through the window, temporarily forgetting her reason for being next to the house to begin with. What she saw was something she always knew was true but it was the last thing she was expecting to see.

There through the window, sitting on the couch was one Jesse St. James in a very compromising position with another vocal adrenaline singer, of the male gender.

"Oh my god" Quinn muttered as her eyes were fixed on the heated make out session

Rachel began to pick her head up to see what it was that Quinn was so shocked to see, the blonde had milliseconds to make a decision she'd have to live with. She'd just heard of the brunette's deepest feelings for the rival singer, in hoping that their relationship wasn't an illusion, it would truly devastate her that it was _all_ a lie, not just a portion of it.

With the protective nature in Quinn coming out she'd made up her mind.

She pulled Rachel's face towards her in that split second before her eyes could focus on what she was about to see, crashing the brunette's lips into her own. The contact made both girls slam their eyes shut, the brunette whimpered into the other girls mouth, causing the blonde to kiss the girl more forcefully. Neither girl knew what they were doing, all Quinn knew was that what once was a kiss meant to distract the girl, turned into something more. The brunette was so confused she didn't know if she was lying down or standing up. She forgot where she was and what they were doing in that moment. The blonde held Rachel's face with her hand, bringing her other hand up into the brown tresses to support the girls head against hers. She felt lightheaded suddenly, her oxygen was dwindling and her heart was pumping faster than if she was on stage singing, likewise for the brunette. Their lips moved against each other's timidly at first, neither could tell but one of them became suddenly more confident, moving more swiftly to capture the other's lips, causing a chain reaction neither of them had ever experienced before.

"Guys!" they heard break through the noise in the background.

Both girls broke apart, not startled, but more slowly than anything. They weren't caught thankfully, the voice came from the front of the house, they knew they had to get out of there soon however. They stayed like that for a few more seconds, face to face, eyes trained on each other's lips, breathing heavily, mixing their air together. Neither one could speak, and for a moment, neither could or wanted to move.

"Let's go!" they heard another hushed whisper

The blonde closed her eyes, and took a deep breath before she turned on her heel and hurriedly ran towards the front of the house where the others were waiting. Rachel was behind her a moment later, already making her way to Quinn's car, not caring if she was around for the grand finale.

The blonde watched silently as the brunette made her way to the car, she had no idea what to do or say. She was completely speechless and she had way too much on her mind at the moment. She grabbed Mercedes along the way and pulled her into her car, anything to not let the two be alone. Though she doubted Rachel would be able to form words, if what just happened had even half the effect on her as it did on the blonde.

They pulled into Quinn's driveway suddenly, neither one realizing they were driving in the first place. They walked into the house where the rest of their friends already were, they were in the living room recounting the events of their epic prank. Reliving the badass-ness of the situation and imagining the look on the boys face when he saw what had happened to his home. Both Quinn and Rachel stayed silent, reliving their own memory of what just happened at the boys home; their friend's conversation drowning out the depths of the images replaying over and over in their head. It was nothing compared to the real thing, they'd both decided.

One by one the group filed out, almost 2 hours later. The rest of the night flew by, not that either one was paying attention, they could be categorized as catatonic; only surfacing when someone would ask them a question. Their behavior was suspicious to the others but they didn't press further, the entire night was random as it was.

"Rach, you coming?" Tina asked for the second time

She was so zoned out that she didn't hear the girl from where she was propped on the couch.

"Oh right, you're my ride" she stated, looking towards the blonde, "Yup, I'm ready" she watched the blonde once again open her mouth but sighed when nothing came out.

Finally the brunette stood and made her way towards the door, offering the blonde a look, which Quinn couldn't return. She left the house and Quinn was left alone with her thoughts.

The next morning, Quinn's alarm blared through the empty house, the blonde's eyes were already wide awake. She'd been up for almost the entire night, tossing and turning, not sure whether to relive the night or fight the images; each option was exhausting. As tired as she was, sleep wouldn't come. When it did, the dreams jolted her awake. She stared at the red digits on the alarm clock before she turned it off and began getting ready for her Saturday morning Cheerleading practice.

Sue Sylvester had welcomed her back to the team, only after spending the summer doing double work outs for the coach. Half the reason she'd agreed to it was to lose the excess baby weight, she didn't see herself staying on the team much longer, it wasn't satisfying to her anymore.

Sue blew her whistle into the bull horn and screamed the girls name, this was the 4th time she'd lost her balance from the top of the pyramid and quite frankly she was surprised the coach didn't call her over sooner.

"Take a knee Fabray" the coach told her

"You're serious?" the blonde asked the woman, the look she got back answered her question

The blonde kneeled down on one knee and watched as the older blonde started to pace back in forth.

"In all my years as a coach I have never seen some one slack off so much this early in the season"

Quinn went to cut in but Sue stopped her.

"As you know, your captainship has been stripped, along with your dignity but I'm going to cut you a deal because well, I feel sorry for you. You've been dragged along by the false hopes and outrageous dreams of one Will Schuester for far too long to realize the reality of it all; Glee club is a contagious and very deadly disease that destroys logic and incapacitates the youth of America. I'm sure he has you slaving away in some kind of cheerful work camp, singing about rainbows and laughter, you're still in shock of it all, I get it. It's a little thing I like to call Stockholm Syndrome, Will Schuester has kept you prisoner for far too long, and because of that you've forgotten what it was like to be a winner."

It took Quinn everything it had in her not to laugh at the woman's ridiculous words and outlandish statements. She wasn't about to refute the coach because that could just turn into her being kicked off the team, or worse, having the woman go on any longer.

"You're absolutely right Coach Sylvester" she fought down the guilt that she felt for going along with her but it was just something she'd have to deal with

The woman sported a satisfied smirk, "Sit the rest of the day out" the woman told her and the blonde almost wanted to do a cartwheel she was so happy.

The truth was that she did have her mind on something related to the small club, and she could barely concentrate.

Lost in her own thoughts she didn't see fellow Glee member Kurt come sit next to her on the bleachers until he spoke up.

"Ya know, she gave me that same speech the other day" he told the girl

Somehow, Quinn believed it.

"You okay?" he asked in a rare moment of sincerity, he could tell something was off about the girl, "Ever since last night you've been awfully quiet"

Quinn thought about telling him everything, he seemed harmless but she knew that was the furthest thing from the truth.

"You're gay right?" she asked, not so much as a question but just as a way into the conversation

"Last time I checked" he quipped

"How do you deal with all of the mixed feelings and questions?" she asked

He was stumped, no one really took the time to ask him something like this.

Quinn could see that he didn't have an answer so she just sighed.

The boy thought of a different approach to figure out what was bothering the girl.

"Do you have feelings for someone?" he asked, taking a sip from his vitamin water

She shrugged, "We kind of have a history, a bad one" she told him, "I just don't know how to approach the situation" she sighed

Kurt nodded, running through a checklist in his head of who it could be.

"It's okay to be scared" the boy told her, seeing that humor wasn't the way to go with this one, "Take it from me, other people's judgment shouldn't deter you from your feelings" he told her truthfully

"Queerio, break time's over" Sue hollered through her bull horn

Kurt sighed, "See?" he asked getting her to show a small smile

The boy bounced off and let Quinn continue sulking about whatever it was she was dealing with.

An hour later and the practice was over, Quinn said goodbye to the rest of the group and refused their invitation to get lunch with them.

As Kurt trotted out to his car he pulled out his cell phone, dialing a familiar number.

"Hello?"

"Quinn's got it bad for Puck" he said into the phone

"What? How do you know?" Mercedes asked, waiting to hear proof before believing it

"She just told me in so many words, are you free? I'm thinking we need to step in and intervene"

"What are you thinking?" she asked, already excited about the prospect of occupying her so far boring Saturday

"Total Bombardment" he said mischievously, "Be there in 10"


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow, thank you guys so much for your intrigue in this story! This is my first Glee fic, and I really enjoyed writing these characters. Hope you enjoy!**

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The blonde walked into her empty house and decided to clean up some of the mess in the living room that she neglected to do the night prior, hoping that it would take her mind off of things. Her stomach grumbled halfway through and reminded her of the small fact that because she declined the lunch offer that she'd yet to eat anything. Trudging into her kitchen she opened her refrigerator to see what it had to offer her, immediately seeing the boxes of pizza from the night before. She took out the smallest box and found what was left of the Vegan pizza she'd ordered especially for the brunette singer, the pizza that they'd awkwardly shared. She had to admit that it was a very good pizza, she wouldn't mind ordering it again should she ever want pizza one night. She felt silly for thinking that because she was eating it, it made her feel a little closer to the overachieving Rachel Berry, something she never thought she'd be grateful for.

Her shower was long and cleansing, once she got dressed she sat on her bed, tapping her fingers on her legs, trying to figure out something to do. Her eyes caught the sight of her iPod, it seemed like the best offer she was going to get. She put the earphones in and began thumbing through her music selection, playing her playlist that she made of songs that the club covered throughout the year. She closed her eyes hoping to catch some of the sleep that she'd missed the night before, and before she knew it she was out cold.

Kurt and Mercedes had spent the majority of the afternoon scheming ways that they could help the cheerleader. At one point in her life, Mercedes had hated the queen bee. In fact, the majority of the school hated Quinn Fabray, either for jealousy reasons or because the girl tormented them until they would cry. Glee club brought them all together and Mercedes thought of the girl as a sister, she'd was adamant on helping the girl to get out of her funk. She too noticed that something was particularly off about the girl, Kurt's new found information shed some light on the situation. They did what they knew how to do best.

Quinn awoke from her comatosed stupor several hours later, the sun had just set and luckily when she woke up, she wasn't feeling groggy but refreshed. She went downstairs to sit on one of the couches, placing her cell phone on the coffee table. The staring contest lasted at least several silent minutes; she was willing the phone to ring giving her something to do on this treacherous night. She debated for another several minutes whether or not she should try calling the brunette. What would she say? How would she act? She'd been having visions of what would happen should she call, they either ended in Rachel hanging up on her or Rachel answering but Quinn would only breathe heavily into the phone. She kicked the coffee table.

"This is ridiculous!" she said out loud, mad at herself for taking this so seriously.

The doorbell rang a second later and she perked up, not expecting anyone, she slowly made her way to the front door. She looked through the curtains before she opened it to reveal many of the members of Glee club.

She opened the door with much confusion, "What are you guys doing here?" she asked

Tina wheeled Artie in, "Kurt told us you were having a party tonight" she said excitedly

"He _what_?"

A few of the members came inside, as she was holding the door she noticed two more cars pulling up, revealing the rest of the group. They all had large bags with them, some pillows and blankets.

Kurt got to the door, "What's going on?" she asked

"You were down and I figured a way to help you get out of your mood" he bumped hips with her, "With your mom gone and all we figured you wouldn't mind, me and Mercedes told everyone you were having a sleepover, and well Puck decided to bring alcohol and presto, instant muscle relaxer" he was quite proud of his concocted plan

Puck came up the steps with a few brown bags, he smirked at the girl and reached into the bag, "Wine coolers for the lady" he bowed, offering it to her

She smacked the side of his head but took the offering regardless, suddenly feeling her throat go dry as she saw that Rachel was right behind him. The girls stared at one another as Rachel went into the home, followed by Finn who was looking exceptionally happy.

"I'm going to go and light the tiki torches" Mercedes yelled walking out of the room

"Tiki Torches?" Quinn asked shutting the door.

Everyone was settling back into the Fabray living room.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" the blonde asked Kurt, pulling him away from the group and bringing him off towards the stair case.

"Seriously, what's going on?"

He sighed, "Sweetie, you are in serious need of a lift me up, and well after our talk today I knew you were too proud to admit your feelings" he told her, rubbing her shoulder

"My feelings?" she asked softer

"For Puck" he told her

"Puck?" she was starting to wonder if she ever woke up from that nap earlier

"Yeah I get it, you like Puck again, you had a bad history but that's in the past, and well we knew you wouldn't just invite him over so I brought everyone, and now you have no choice" he told her, "Right?" he asked, still seeing shock written across the blonde's features

Her eyes trailed across the room to see Rachel and Finn in conversation, laughing about something that probably wasn't that funny. She closed her eyes and swallowed.

"Right" she gave in

"You'll see, it will be fun. I hope you didn't eat dinner already, we took into account the manliness that is Puck and he offered to grill some food for us. Your pool is still opened yes?" he asked

Quinn shook her gaze away from what it was landed on, "Yeah" she told him

"Great, now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do" he told her and glided off

The blonde looked around, seeing everyone happily engaging one another. It took a few more minutes for the shock to wear off but she could at least see the silver lining in all of this. It was better than anything she was going to be doing all night, which included sulking to herself, and it gave her a chance to spend more time with the group, she'd learned she really did miss them over the summer. Most of all, it gave her the chance to be around Rachel and still be covered with the pretense that she actually liked Puck.

She opened the wine cooler and went upstairs to get her bathing suit on, knowing that alcohol plus a pool plus Puck equaled wet clothing, it was better to be safe than sorry when he was around. If only that motto would have resonated with her before she'd allowed them to have sex. She scowled at the wine cooler in her hand, that too, she decided was to blame.

She sat at one of the many metal grated tables that surrounded the pool, most of the members were already in the pool splashing around. Even though it was the beginning of September, it was still summer weather, something they could be thankful for she supposed. She zoned out as she focused on the pool and the people in it, she felt a presence next to her and looked up to find an awkwardly tall Finn with a certain brunette next to him. The patio lights, along with the blue tint from the pool light reflected off of her skin, Quinn scolded herself for thinking such things entirely sober.

They both sat in the chairs at the table, the brunette sat with a little hesitation. Finn jumped right into talking.

"Thanks for having us over Quinn, it's really good for the group. It was really cool of you. " he told her with a nod

She gave him a tight lipped smile and took a sip of the wine cooler that Puck brought for her.

Finn continued to rant, about god knows what. The blonde tuned him out minutes ago, it seemed that the brunette as well learned how to tune the boy out.

"Hudson, I need help" Puck called out to him as he got out of the pool

Finn smiled slightly before getting up to leave to see what his best friend wanted.

Rachel found Quinn's eyes, everything that she was going over in her head for the past 10 minutes or so was completely gone.

"Quinn" the brunette said finally

The blonde had long since looked away from the girl sitting across from her. She needed to keep her emotions in check.

After a few more moments of silence Rachel sighed, knowing she was never going to get the blonde to open up to her, all of her questions would go unanswered as far as she was concerned. The sad part was that she wasn't expecting anything different. The brunette began to rise from her chair without another look towards the blonde, knowing that whatever happened last night was a lost memory.

"You're drinking" the blonde said quietly, nodding to the beverage on the table in front of the girl.

Rachel's confusion was quickly erased when she realized what Quinn was talking about. The brunette didn't answer.

"I didn't think you were the drinking type" the blonde continued, finally lifting her head, eyes penetrating right into the brunettes.

To say the look stole Rachel's words would be an understatement; it stole her breath just as easily. Swallowing her fear and nervousness down, she decided she was ready to answer without sounding like a fool.

"Yeah well, Kurt said he'd cut me so" the brunette was only telling the truth

The blonde laughed slightly, a small smile playing on her lips, causing Rachel to smile as well.

"Sounds about right" she mused

Once again silence took over the two girls.

"Quinn" the brunette tried again

"Don't Rachel"

The brunette was taken aback, a wider smile betrayed her, one that Quinn easily caught.

"You called me Rachel" she told the other girl, pointedly

Quinn closed her eyes, almost in pain that she had let that slip. Things like that meant the world to the petite brunette.

"Why?" the brunette pressed

"Why did I call you Rachel? Because that's your name" the blonde fired back

The brunette frowned slightly, her smile faltered and she knew she was now dealing with the closed off side of Quinn, one that she was very much used to.

"No. _Why_?" she asked again, hoping to hint at what she was really asking

The blonde sighed, "Don't" she reiterated

"If we talk about this maybe we can figure-"

"I said don't" the blonde snapped

"Okay" the brunette said, "Sorry" she apologized

"Yeah, me too" the blonde replied

Cryptic messages were Quinn's forte, the brunette only wished that she knew what the girl was sorry for. Was it for snapping at the girl, was it for the night before? These questions had been driving Rachel crazy since _it_ happened, her entire night was spent thinking about the blonde. Wondering if she'd ever know the truth, wondering if there was anything that would come of it. The brunette was no fool, she knew how easily it was for her to become attached to someone, she knew that just because someone was nice to her didn't mean that she should become in love with that person. Yet it happened anyway, only this time, she'd believed it was different. Hoping it was different at least.

The blonde picked at the label on the wine cooler, trying to avoid Rachel's gaze. It proved to be tempting but she was using every ounce of willpower that she had to withstand.

"Who wants a burger and who wants a hot dog?" she could hear a certain Mohawk call out to the group

Shouts and hollers were heard from all around the back yard, people calling in their orders. The blonde noticed the brunette looking around uncomfortably, triggering Quinn's realizations to come into focus.

She shot up from her chair and marched the short distance over to where Puck was starting up the grill.

"What did you get Rachel to eat?" she asked

Puck turned around quickly at the voice, "Umm" he answered blankly, his eyes looking towards Rachel.

"Kurt!" Quinn yelled

The boy look towards the grill and came over quickly, seeing an obviously pissed of cheerleader.

"Did you guys consider Rachel's food preferences?" she asked

"Rachel?" he asked, confused by the blonde's use of her first name, "Sorry, I didn't realize" he replied fearfully, not wanting to piss off the blonde any further.

Rachel approached the three, hoping to solve this matter.

"It's quite alright, I'm not that hungry anyway" the brunette said sweetly

Quinn turned towards the girl, "No, it's not okay"

The blonde turned quickly and went into her house, near rampage mode as she went to look in the freezer for something the girl could eat.

A few of them followed after the blonde, to see what she was doing.

"Quinn, what are you doing?" Puck asked

"I think my mom has some kind of veggie burgers in here" she told them sharply, pulling almost the entire contents of the freezer and throwing them on the floor.

Everyone shared nervous glances; they rarely saw her in this type of a mood any more, at least when it wasn't attributed to her pregnancy hormones. No one knew how to broach the situation. Puck took a step forward.

"Babe" he offered

"Do not" she told him, holding her hand up to warn him.

The brunette looked on in horror; the mood swing that Quinn was suffering from was far more severe than she could have ever anticipated. The blonde's eyes were glassy and she was near tears.

The cheerleader opened some cabinets and shuffled things around until she found what she was looking for. Taking the flash light, she walked out of the kitchen and towards a door in the hallway, disappearing a moment later.

Kurt, Puck, Finn and Rachel all stared at each other, unsure of what to do.

"Rachel, go after her" Finn said

"Me? Why me?"

"Because for some reason, she's adamant on finding _you_ something to eat" Kurt told her

Rachel took a deep breath and began to walk towards the door the girl disappeared behind, finding a staircase; it was obvious that the girl had gone into the basement.

"Quinn?" she called out softly

She could hear mumbling and grunting, along with some obscenities off in the corner of the room. She walked up slowly to find Quinn kneeling down in front of another full sized refrigerator unit with a pull out freezer.

The brunette let out a breath and gently placed her hand on the girl's shoulder, kneeling down next to her, hoping to get her to calm down.

"What's going on" the brunette asked, effectively getting the girl to slow her movements.

Quinn huffed, "I know my mom has some kind of Veggie burger somewhere, I'm trying to find them" she says like it's so obvious.

Rachel can clearly see that the girl is virtually amidst an emotional breakdown.

She reached her hand out to cup the girl's face, a gesture one of her dad's would do to get her to calm down, only she never realized how much weight would be brought with that one action. The brunette did in fact find wetness under the girl's eyes and as she studied Quinn carefully, the blonde released a shiver that no doubt was caused by the cold air coming out of the freezer.

"No. What's going on" she asked, hoping once again that the reiteration would get to the core of what she was really asking.

The girl seemed to understand.

"I don't know"

"Why are you going through so much trouble? A month ago, hell even a week ago, you didn't care about me-"

"I do care, okay? So much" she said in a moment of rare honesty

The brunette looked over the girls face, she was quivering, her emotions raking through her, she'd never seen the girl this out of place.

"Why are you crying?" she asked, bringing her voice down even lower.

The blonde let out a shaky breath, "because I care too much" she told the girl, looking into her eyes.

Once again the cheerleader managed to knock the wind out of the brunette without trying hard at all. She was sharing one of the most intense moments she'd ever shared with another human being and it was with the unlikeliest person she could have guessed.

She continued to study her face, "I felt it" the brunette said finally, "I felt the risk, the passion…everything"

The blonde stayed quiet.

"I know you did too" she continued, "I know you're not going to admit it out loud, which is fine, why would you?" the girl asked, the sadness in her voice causing the blonde to surprise her.

"It was the most passionate moment I've ever had with someone" she said slowly, "I felt it Rachel, all of it" she told the girl truthfully, just above a whisper.

"It meant something" the brunette told her reassuringly.

"We can't let it" the blonde retorted almost too quickly.

The brunette didn't let it deter her, "I think we already did" she told her bluntly

The blonde moved forward with the guidance of the brunette's hand that was still close to her face. Because the blonde neglected to turn on the basement lights, the only illumination was coming from the freezer, the icy smoke billowing out of the cold box only created more of a haze for the girls.

"Rach" the blonde whimpered softly, barely touching the girls lips that she's been craving since she last felt them.

"It's okay" Rachel replied softly before touching her lips to the other girls, knowing the blonde was too weak to do it herself.

Once they connected, almost all of their worries vanished. It was just the two of them, the freezer provided coolness for their overheated bodies in the moment. Their eyes were firmly shut, memorizing the feeling of the contact, memorizing what it felt like to have the other one in such a close proximately. Soft moans generated from within them, urging the other on even further. They stayed like that, kissing in the dark and coldness of the basement, barely moving for at least a minute. It still wasn't enough. There was no way to describe the kiss. It was softer than the first one, certainly like nothing they'd ever experienced before, it was gentle, it was what they both needed to reassure them that they weren't hallucinating the night before.

They broke away mutually, breathing hard regardless of the slowness of the kiss, immediately smiling at one another as they rested on each other's forehead. Quinn swallowed and closed her eyes for a brief minute before opening them back up to look into the brunette's eyes.

"I haven't been able to get you out of my head" she told her softly

The brunette bit her lip, afraid to ask the next question, "Do you want to?"

The blonde smiled slightly to herself, looking down while shaking her head, "No"

The brunette waited a beat before lifting the girl's eyes to her, "I'm just as scared as you are"

Quinn swallowed again, still trying to catch her breath so she could get these important words out, "I can't go back to the way we were, I won't be able to now"

Rachel could feel her emotions finally getting the best of her, she didn't want to cry in front of the girl, but it seemed she wouldn't have the choice in the matter, "I don't want that either"

"What are we going to do?"

"Whatever we need to" the brunette told her, she didn't know how she had all the answers but they seemed to satisfy the girl across from her

Quinn nodded.

"Are you guys okay down there?" someone called from the top of the stairs

The blonde wiped her eyes with the back of her hands; "Yeah, we're coming up now" she called out trying her best to sound neutral.

"We should clean this up I guess huh?" Quinn asked

Most of the food was put back within a few seconds, Rachel began to chuckle as she bent down to pick something up.

"What's so funny?"

The brunette stood up with something frozen in her hand, "Veggie Burgers" she laughed

Quinn chuckled as well, taking a step closer to the girl, hearing the sharp intake of breath.

The blonde connected their lips once more, neither knew the next time they would be alone and Quinn wasn't sure she could go that long.

The brunette smiled into the kiss and pulled the blonde closer to her, allowing their bodies to be flush against one another. The kiss dwindled into small pecks on the lips that both girls found themselves giddy over. They finally decided it was time to get back upstairs so that people wouldn't begin to wonder what was going on, the blonde forwardly took the brunette's hand in hers and they walked up the stairs like that. At the top however, Rachel noticed the hesitation that Quinn had in taking the last step. Feeling like she needed some encouragement, the brunette brought the girls hand to her lips, placing a small kiss on her palm. She gave her a smile and passed her on the stairs so she could go first. Quinn smiled to herself, tucking a strand of hair behind her ears and finally taking that last step back into reality.

"What took you guys so long?" Finn asked

"Couldn't find the Veggie burgers" Quinn answered the boy, flashing a sly smile towards the brunette who was already laughing to herself, the brunette returned the smile with a wink before continuing on her path to give Noah the burgers they both worked so hard to find.

The group ate in contentment around 3 of the tables, every once in a while jumping in and out of the pool, playing sharks and minnows, and even had a chicken fight tournament. The blonde watched from the sideline for the majority of the time, comfortable in her wonderment as she watched the small group act as though they've been friends for years. She was right to assume that she would be thrown in the pool against her will, but even that couldn't take her out of her overjoyed mood. Most of the members waited with bated breath as the cheerleader resurfaced above the water, if the lash out over the vegetarian burgers was any indication, they were preparing for serious repercussions. Most of them were shocked to see that she was laughing and only wiping the water out of her eyes. It seemed that the group could breathe again, going right back to the way they were seconds before. The wine coolers weren't necessary for Quinn to feel relaxed, the buzz she was having off of Rachel's presence was enough to do the trick. One by one, they got out of the pool, sitting around the tables, allowing themselves to dry off before they went back inside. It was nearly midnight and no one seemed tired, however the blonde was dying for everyone to go to bed. Kurt found the hidden American Idol game that Quinn purchased upon joining New Directions and recruited people to sing with him. The rest of them sat around watching on in amusement, laughing when someone would miss a note, waiting to see if anyone could top the last person.

Quinn managed to connect eyes with Rachel eventually, nodding her head towards the kitchen, hoping that the brunette would get the hint to meet her in the other room. She got it with ease and rose up from the couch just moments after the blonde left the room. She walked into the kitchen not knowing what she would find.

The blonde was only pouring herself some water to drink when she felt the brunette's presence.

She turned around fully to face the suddenly shy Rachel, leaning her hip against the counter. Bringing the cup up to her lips occasionally, she was amused just by the very sight of the other girl staring at her so intently.

"Hi" the blonde said into her cup

The brunette finally took the necessary steps to allow her to be fully in the kitchen.

"Are you having a good time?" the blonde asked

The brunette could only nod, afraid that her voice would betray her if she attempted to speak.

"I was thinking, of maybe asking you" the blonde started, suddenly tongue tied, "if you wanted to sleep in my room, ya know, because the floor is so uncomfortable" her nerves hijacked her mouth and she started to sound like an unsure Rachel Berry because of it, "I'd hate for you to get a stiff back, or something"

The brunette realized how much trouble the cheerleader was having and decided to intervene, she reached out, lightly hooking her fingers around the girl's forearm, letting them slide down until she reached the other girl's hand, "That'd be nice, thank you"

The girls shared a small smile. This feeling was so unfamiliar to Quinn, she'd never had it this bad for someone so suddenly. With Finn, it was just expected, football quarterback and the head cheerleader, it was easy. Puck was a drunken haze, an illusion of what she really wanted. Rachel Berry was nothing like she'd ever experienced before, it was new, it was scary and she'd loved it. She wanted to know all there was to know about the other girl, good and bad. She wanted to know her life story, why she was the way she was, she wanted to get inside her mind and wonder what she was still doing standing in the same room as her. She despised the girl at one point in her life, she told herself it was because Rachel had a blaringly obvious crush on her boyfriend Finn, but in reality she was just jealous of the girl, knowing who she was and what she wanted. She'd always wanted to reach out to the brunette, tell her that she was sorry for all the pain she caused her, but she always found herself closing up at the last second. Her defense mechanism was to just become a bitch so no one would see just how vulnerable she could be. Somewhere along the line she found that she was exhausted of constantly putting up a front towards the other girl and finally just let her guard down, allowing her to care about the trivial things she used to will herself not to think about.

Rachel knew that there was more to Quinn then met the eye; she'd been through a lot after all. There was only so much time you could spend on an emotional roller coaster such as the one the blonde had been on for the past year now. The verbal torment the girl put her through was just a way to take out the anger and hurt she had, while it did upset Rachel, she couldn't hold it against the girl, especially when she was as fragile as she was. There was a certain mystery that surrounded the cheerleader, the brunette was always curious about her but never believed she'd be close enough to ask.

The girls managed to slip away, both feigning exhaustion. Quinn set the members up with places to sleep and it was pretty much every man for themselves. She sighed in relief when the group managed to take up all the spaces in the house, giving the blonde an excuse to have Rachel sleep in the room with her. Though she couldn't imagine herself doing anything with the girl so soon, just having the girl near here seemed to calm her down a significant amount.

The blonde shut the door softly behind them, the brunette allowed her eyes to roam and wander around the walls, taking in the room that she'd always imagined the girl to take refuge in. It just seemed so her. The brunette turned hesitantly towards the other girl when she felt eyes on her intently.

"Why me?" Rachel asked cautiously

"I don't know" Quinn replied painfully honest, "I just know that…this, whatever this is, isn't going to go away" she paused, contemplating her next words, "I don't want it to"

The brunette closed her eyes, knowing that while the answer wasn't exactly something definite, it was just what she wanted to her. They didn't have to have all the answers, in fact it didn't even have to make sense, because they both knew that it didn't, but at least they both felt the same and that was enough for them.

"We should um, get ready for bed" Quinn told her, to which the brunette nodded.

The girls separated for a few moments while they did their nightly rituals, both trying to put off the inevitable, they didn't know what the rest of the night was going to bring.

The blonde walked back into the room slowly, finally done getting ready.

"Now what?" Rachel asked standing in the middle of the room, fiddling with her fingers as she waited nervously

Quinn gave her a smile, letting her know that she shouldn't be scared. She sat on the bed, leaning against the head board.

"Tell me about your life" she said, "Everything"

So the brunette did. She started with the basics, her reason for becoming a Vegan, how she was raised with two fathers, what it was like to meet her birth mother. One topic segued into another, the brunettes initial stiff position at the edge of the bed turned into a lazy lay next to the blonde as Quinn ran her fingers delicately up and down her forearm. They shared laughs, sincere moments, they gushed to each other about things that meant a lot to them, they encouraged the other when things came up that were hard to talk about. Music was their common denominator; it often led back into that topic of conversation, which was fine by the both of them. The brunette was intrigued by Quinn's musical taste, wanting to hear all about why she loved the songs that she did. Eventually the brunette's head rested on the blonde's shoulder, it was something that felt right. Quinn was absentmindedly dragging her nails up and down the girl's skin, leaving goose bumps in their wake.

She couldn't believe how content she was on listening to the other girl speak, an action that used to drive her crazy. She never took the time to actually listen to the subtle cues and hints the brunette would drop about her life when she spoke. However, she found it strange that while Rachel was talking, she'd known almost all of it already.

"I guess we should get to sleep huh?" the brunette asked after a moment of silence

The blonde yawned and looked toward the alarm clock next to her bed. It blared 5:03 in the morning, she couldn't believe how quickly the time had passed.

"Nah" she said through another yawn, "I'm a vampire, I don't sleep" she joked

The brunette giggled against her body, squeezing the side of the blonde's stomach, her left arm was laid across the girl's abdomen for some time now.

"Well that would certainly explain some things" Rachel teased back

The blonde continued to run her fingers through the brunette's hair, she knew that the girl was only kidding but something triggered inside of her. She stopped running her fingers through the girls brown locks.

"I'm sorry for the way I've treated you" she said, needing to get the words out, "I didn't know you, I'm so sorry" her voice cracked, she was embarrassed with herself that she could be such a monster to someone so genuine.

"It's okay, I know you didn't mean the things you did" the brunette didn't know that, but she hoped.

The blonde lent down, brushing back hair from the girl's forehead and placing a small kiss on the top of her head before resting her cheek in the same place. After some time, Quinn rearranged herself to be laying flat on her back, instead of resting against the head board. She kept her hold around the girl, she could tell the brunette was beyond exhausted; in fact, she was pretty sure the girl woke up just after the sun rose almost every day. Rachel nudged her nose up, getting the blonde to back up slightly, allowing her to move freely. The brunette closed the distance between them and they shared a sweet goodnight kiss, both girls lingered however, not minding the close proximity of their faces. The last thought Quinn had before sleep took her over was that she hoped the brunette would still be in her arms when she awoke a few hours later. Rachel sighed contently, hoping that the blonde would still be this person when they woke up the next morning. Fearing that she would close up again upon waking next to the brunette, Rachel wiggled her way closer to the girl, trying to get as much of the blonde as possible before reality struck down on the both of them the next morning. For now, they could just be.


	3. Chapter 3

**You guys are awesome! You had me laughing at some of your comments. I'm glad that it's coming across as something real, that has been my intention all along, a lot of the time you have no idea why you like someone, you're just blindsided. I digress, hope you enjoy!**

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The sun had been shining through the curtains for some time now, brightly illuminating the room that the girls were sleeping in. Quinn wasn't fully awake yet but she was beginning to stir, Rachel however had been awake for some time now. She'd awoken with the girl's arm wrapped securely around her, it was something the brunette had never experienced before, waking up in someone else's arms. She had to admit, it felt damn good. Rachel was idly drawing circles across the blonde's stomach when she heard a knock on the door. She moved away from the girl quietly, trying not to wake her, it failed miserably and Quinn immediately woke up, looking at the girl in confusion while attempting to pull the girl back towards her. The brunette began to shake her head when the door creaked open.

"Are you guys awake yet?"

Quinn straightened up slightly when she heard the protruding voice, the two girls were still too close to pull off the appropriate friendship sleeping distance but if either of them moved now it would look too obvious.

The blonde stretched her arms and wiped her eyes, "I am now" she told them

The brunette stayed still and quiet as she too leaned against the headboard.

"Oh okay, just checking" Santana said, "Some of us are gonna get going"

"Oh right, I'll be right down" the blonde told them, "Can you shut the door?" she asked, trying to be polite

Santana and Brittany narrowed their eyes but adhered to the girl's request.

Rachel jumped out of the bed as soon as the door clicked, in order to collect her things.

"Rachel" the blonde spoke

When the brunette continued to move about the room unaffected, the blonde resorted to getting up off of the bed.

"Berry" she said, holding the girls shoulders in place

"Yes, sorry"

"Are you okay?" she asked

"Yes, fine" she replied

Quinn could tell the girl was on edge, she found herself asking a question she wasn't sure she was ready to hear the answer to.

"Was last night.."

"Goodness no" she jumped in, knowing where the girl was going with this, she sighed, "I'm sorry, I just got a little spooked" She told Quinn, offering a smile

"Are you sure?" the blonde wanted assurance

The brunette threw her bag onto the bed, bringing both arms up to rest on the girls shoulders, locking her fingers around the back of Quinn's neck.

She gave her another soft smile, "Trust me" she gave the girl a warming kiss to confirm her words, "Not an ounce of regret" she told her, inches away from her face, "Do you?" she had to ask

The blonde chuckled to herself, "Look at me, do I look like someone that leaps out of bed for someone?" she asked

"Point taken" they both shared a laugh, "But I should be going, Sundays are kind of family day" she told her with a shrug

"Yeah, same here. My mom will be home soon anyway, I should straighten up the house"

Both girls smiled when neither let go of their grasp on the other.

"Okay" the blonde smiled

"Okay" the brunette beamed back

They shared one last kiss that ended too soon for the both of them before they finally forced themselves to let go.

Quinn said goodbye to her friends, and got right to work cleaning up the left over mess. Not wanting to upset her mother when she got back from a long and tiring weekend. She couldn't believe the difference in how the weekend started and how it ended, Friday afternoon she was practically foaming at the mouth, Sunday morning she was on cloud 9. She soon learned that sitting around the house for the rest of the day wasn't an option, she was going to go insane if she had to be confined. She needed something to keep her thoughts off of the brunette, she knew that seeing her that day would be out of the question, so she forced her mother to go out with her. They went shopping for the majority of the day, catching a movie and going out for a late dinner, all things that attempted but didn't succeed in bringing Quinn's thoughts away from the singer.

Rachel too was walking on air for the rest of the day, she'd been in a trance ever since she said goodbye to the cheerleader. Her father's noticed the sudden change in her behavior as well, they'd decided to let the girl bask in her good mood and not question it. She never thought Quinn could be so authentic, she never knew how many layers the girl really had. She loved every moment she got to spend with the girl, she liked that the blonde cared for her, that she looked out for her. Her feelings grew when she saw how Quinn reacted to the entire food debacle the night before, she liked the protective instinct that the cheerleader had, it made her feel worthy. They spent the entire night talking, talking! Rachel's next favorite thing to do behind singing, and she didn't once hear the other girl telling her to shut up. It was almost too good to be true, she was all about clichés and everything she used to describe the other girl was just that. After she'd spent nearly an hour picking out her clothing for the next day, she went to bed early, excited about what the next day was going to bring.

Rachel added a certain bounce to her step as she walked through the halls the next morning, her stomach was made of entirely butterflies as she turned the corners, hoping to see Quinn but scared at the same time. She was unsure of how the girl would act towards her, the weekend was good and nice but it was almost as if they were back to reality. After her 4th period, she stopped at her locker to grab some of her books, she was somewhat hoping that Quinn would magically be there next to her when she shut the locker door. Instead the girl snuck up from the other side of her, jolting the brunette into a yelp as she nudged her back. The blonde was utterly amused with herself.

"I've been looking for you" the blonde said after her laughter died down, "I wanted to tell you that I kind of missed you yesterday after you left" she leaned against the lockers

The brunette prevented herself from doing a back flip at the blonde's confession, instead she busied herself by tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

"And to tell you that I don't think I'm going to be in lunch today"

Since joining Glee, the members tended to sit with each other out of preference.

The brunette was concerned, "Is everything okay?" she asked, refraining from touching the girl

"Yeah, Coach Sylvester has been up my ass, I'm just trying to get back on her good side so I was going to run through routines" she told the girl

The brunette nodded, understandingly but a little disappointed.

"Okay, that's just a cover, I don't think I'll be able to contain myself around you in front of everyone at lunch" she admitted, biting her lip. She was hoping that she'd be able to get away with the white lie but she found she couldn't.

The brunette chuckled, "I understand"

"I'll see you after school?"

The brunette once again nodded, almost star struck.

Quinn flashed her a wide smile before she trotted off down the hallway towards her next class.

The girls passed each other a few times in the hallway between that point and the end of the day, they'd stared intently at one another every time they saw each other. The final bell rang and both girls sighed relief.

Rachel was already seated in the front row before Quinn got to the choir room, she saw both Finn and Tina sit on either side of the brunette as she walked in. Frowning momentarily she decided it was probably for the best, besides she could stare at the brunette from the back row without being so blatantly obvious.

Mr. Schuester walked in moments later clapping his hands, "Okay, how was the weekend? What did we learn?" he was particularly excited about the day's meeting, he wanted to see if they learned anything new about their fellow members.

Everyone looked around all thinking the same thing.

"We learned that Quinn has a weird obsession with making sure Rachel has her vegan food" Kurt said

"Oh and that Quinn would hook up with Berry, if it meant saving the world" Noah added and smirked at the blonde next to him.

"Bite me Puckerman" the blonde said through her teeth, she was sure her face was as red as it was hot.

"Now, what happened last time?" he quipped back

Quinn was moments away from getting out of her chair and jumping on the boy to wipe the smug smile off of his face.

"Alright, enough" Mr. Schuester cut in, "Anything else?"

Quinn looked around, daring anyone else to say anything about her.

Rachel raised her hand.

"What did I say about the hand raising?" Mr. Schuester asked, but realized it wasn't going anywhere, "Okay, Rachel"

The brunette put her hand down and began talking, "I learned that as much as everyone tends to enjoy commentating on my wardrobe preferences or roll their eyes at my incessant rants, it doesn't mean that they won't indeed have my back when I should need it." She smiled, the rest of the group smiled as well

"Furthermore" she started, cueing the groans, "I think this is a vast improvement, and to know that we're all there for each other will help us tremendously in the future with dance sequences and performances" she ended

Everyone looked on, questioning if she was going to continue. Quinn could only gaze at her with wonderment, she was so amused and enticed by the brunette. She had a smile on her face when Puck leaned over to her.

"Nice smile"

Her smile vanished and the fire was back in her eyes, she leapt out of the chair, "I'm going to kill you" she yelled at the boy startling everyone

"That's enough" Mr. Schuester had to cut in again

The brunette looked to Quinn, making eye contact with her. It was almost as if she had no control over her body because the second Rachel sought out her eyes, she relaxed immensely.

"Why don't you guys get with your partners and start thinking up song ideas for your Friday performance" he told them

Quinn sighed, unsure of why she was getting so worked up over Puckerman's words.

Rachel went off to the corner she tended to migrate to when she was preparing something, the blonde was there a few seconds later.

"You okay?" the brunette asked

"Yeah, I'm good now"

The brunette smiled, eventually it won the blonde over and she too smiled. Instead of working on their song, they found themselves talking about their days. It wasn't like Rachel to stray from the task at hand but she couldn't help it.

Before they knew it, the hour and a half was up.

As they gathered their things to leave, Mercedes, Tina, Artie and Kurt approached Rachel.

"Hey we were thinking about grabbing an early dinner, you in?"

The brunette's eyes found Quinn's for a brief second from across the room.

"Actually, Quinn and I were going to, ya know, do the assignment" she said

"But you were just working on it" Tina reminded her

"I know but well we were thinking, we still need to get to know each other more to pick the appropriate song"

"Fabray" Mercedes called out to the blonde who was mid conversation with Brittany and Santana.

She approached the group, "You're hanging out with Berry?" the girl asked

She looked around at the four of them, eyes landing briefly once again on the brunettes.

"Um, yeah. We need to" She swallowed looking back to Mercedes, "work on our song"

She hoped that's what the girl had told them, they hadn't made any plans yet for after glee practice. The blonde was hoping that they could hang out alone she just didn't ask yet.

"Okay then" Mercedes said, "Have fun"

The four inquiring minds left the room, Rachel mouthed thank you to the girl, which she nodded her welcome. The rest of their friends were gone and it was just the two of them.

"So are we really hanging out?" Quinn asked hopeful

"If you'd like to" the brunette replied

"Well I guess we should, we didn't really work on the song" the blonde reminded her

Rachel gasped, completely not realizing how unprepared they were. Quinn could see the panic on her face and couldn't help but find it adorable.

"C'mon" she laughed, "Let's get to work"

The girls dropped their bags back onto the desks and both girls pulled out their laptops, hoping to find a song that they could sing as a duet. It was virtually impossible to find a song when you were looking for one. Most of the time they just came to you.

Quinn huffed her hair out of her eyes and shut her laptop after about an hour of looking through her playlist and searching lyrics online. Her stomach growled signaling to her that it was probably almost 6 o'clock.

"This is never gonna happen" the blonde said after a while

Rachel too closed her laptop, "What are we going to do?" she asked

"Chinese?" the blonde wiggled her eyebrows

There was no way the brunette could turn down Quinn's proposal after the look she gave her. She relented and the cheerleader jumped up and down.

The car ride was relatively quiet, mostly because the blonde was thinking about what she was going to get. She flipped through the stations on the radio until they could find something without commercials.

"Wait go back" Rachel said, hearing a song she knew

She went back to the right station and Rachel immediately began bopping her head, suddenly belting the words to the song. Quinn looked on in amusement as the brunette began clapping along to the beat. With a few more nudges from the girl, the blonde finally gave in and joined her in the singing. Both girls were smiling and enjoying each other's company.

"Wait!" Rachel yelled, causing the blonde to nearly slam on the brakes, "This song! We could sing this song!" she poured

"This song?" Quinn asked, listening a bit to the words as the song continued to play, "Sure I guess, is it too forward?" she asked

"We can chop it up, but it's so in our vocal range and I'm imagining a dramatic crescendo, with a slow motion montage of emotions" the brunette turned to the girl excitedly

"Okay, I don't know what any of that means but I trust you" she told the girl

Rachel squealed in delight as she'd found a song they could sing.

Quinn shook her head laughing, she reached over to grabbed the brunette's hand out of her lap, clasping them together.

Dinner at the Chinese restaurant was spent in giggles as Rachel conjured up all kinds of things they could do to make their performance even better. The blonde was down for anything, as long as the brunette continued to give her that spotlight smiled that she'd grown fond of. The rest of the time was spent trying to guess what the other groups would sing as their relationship song, which still equaled laugher for the girls.

Afterwards, Quinn dropped the girl off at her house. Not without a pretty serious make out session in the car. Luckily it was dark by the time they pulled up to the house, as well as pouring rain. They were nestled safely inside the warm car, out of harm's way for the time being. Neither wanted to say goodbye but knew that after a while, Rachel's father would come out demanding to know if she was being held for ransom or not. With one last kiss, the girls said goodbye for the night, only because they made plans to go and get breakfast the following morning before school.

Rachel was outside just as the car was pulling up, making sure the girl wouldn't have to honk. Besides the blonde sent the girl at least 5 text messages telling her the estimated time of arrival. They'd agreed that they wouldn't talk on the phone before bed because that would result in another all nighter, no one said anything about texting. It took the brunette almost 10 minutes after she got into her room to figure out that there was a loophole. She enjoyed texting with Quinn, the things she said were thoughtful, and sweet. Rachel found herself blushing much more than she would in person, she was also able to display her reaction without looking like a loser.

The girls walked down the empty hallway together, they were there extra early, not knowing what to do with themselves.

"Hi girls" a man said from behind them

Both girls turned around to see their Glee advisor with a stack of papers in his hand.

"Hi Mr. Shue" Rachel beamed brightly in a particularly good mood that morning.

Breakfast had gone off without a hitch, she knew that Quinn wasn't as big of a morning person as the brunette but she appreciated the effort none the less. The blonde even made it seem like she was enjoying it, Rachel hoped that she actually was.

"What are you guys doing here so early" he asked looking at his watch, students didn't normally start coming in for another 15 minutes

"We went to get breakfast" Rachel told him

Mr. Schuester looked towards the blonde to see if this was accurate, Quinn gave him a smile.

"Wow, I'm extremely proud of you two. You're really taking this seriously" he applauded them

The brunette curtseyed for the older man in appreciation for the compliment.

The teacher walked off to get to his classroom and the blonde dragged the other girl along while laughing beside her on way.

The rest of the day went by just like the previous, Mr. Schuester made a scene to the club however about Rachel and Quinn's excellent display of leadership and resolve. Both girls were severely blushing and desperately trying to hide it from the others. Rachel insisted that the girls practice their number in solitary confinement, as to not give away what they were working on. He granted them their wishes, once again gushing about their initiative, the brunette simply lit up.

They practiced their number for quite a long time, not even knowing if the rest of the club was still in the building. Quinn dropped the girl off at her house once again, in the same fashion. Only this time, Mr. Berry number 1 was waiting by the window to find out who the mysterious person was that had her daughter belting songs about love in the shower.

"Incoming" the blonde told the brunette as she was going to get out of the car

"I'll see what he wants" the girl told Quinn

Rachel bounced out of the car, giving her father a kiss on the cheek. "Hi Daddy, was there something you needed?" she asked sweetly

"Who's your friend?" he asked, surveying the tinted windows of the car

"Quinn" the brunette told her father, hoping the man wouldn't remember the name from the many times she was sobbing in her bedroom.

"Ask Quinn if he wants to stay for dinner" the man said, "We'd love to meet him, is this the football boy or whatever that you're always talking about" he asked, smiling at his daughter, gesturing to the car.

"No Daddy, that's Finn. This is Quinn, and I'll ask _her_"

The man studied his daughter briefly before a wide smile broke out onto his face, "Even more exciting, now she simply must" he told the girl before walking back into the house to set another place at the table she assumed.

She opened the car door again, "Please don't hate me" she winced

"Never, what is it?" she asked

"Well they've insisted that you stay for dinner, that is, if you'd like to and if it's okay with your mother" she told the girl

The blonde turned the key in the ignition, and threw the keys into her pocketbook before getting out of the car to join the girl.

"Really?" the brunette asked

"Of course" she told her, "Besides I haven't seen my dad in 6 months, now I get to be with two" she teased

The brunette frowned at the mention of Mr. Fabray, she knew that his daughter was still devastated over everything and resented him a great deal for what she's been through. At least she was able to make a joke of it however.

The brunette took the girls hand and they made their way up the walkway to where the door was left open for them. The aroma of food instantly hit their noses and Quinn hadn't realized how hungry she actually was. She'd never been in the girl's house before, it was very quaint and comfortable. Nothing like the house that she grew up in, the art decorating the walls meant something more than it just being an expensive piece of artwork. There were family pictures everywhere, along with a festive feel to it.

The girls walked into the dining room where the same man that was outside was now putting food onto the table, which Quinn noticed was already set for four.

"So nice to meet you Quinn" the man held out his hand as he walked towards the girls, "I'm so thrilled you could join us tonight, we made Rachel's favorite too"

The blonde took it, giving her full smile to the man, his eyes were warm and his smile was welcoming.

"Thank you for inviting me, it smells delicious" she was always an appealing young lady when dealing with adults, thanks to her Saturdays at the country club.

"Who is this stunningly beautiful young lady in our home?" another man sung as he made his way to his husband and the girls.

"You're speaking of Rachel I'm sure"

Rachel looked towards the girl, she wasn't sure if Quinn was comfortable with being themselves in front of the girl's parents. She hadn't given it much thought.

The man held his hand to his chest, "My, a looker _and _a charmer" he winked at the girl, embracing her into one of his bone crushing hugs.

"Nice to meet you Quinn, I'm Roger, Rachel's handsome father" he told her

"And I suppose that would make me Brian, the ugly one" the other man joked. The two shared a laugh with each other and Quinn felt herself smile at the natural exchange.

"And sweetheart" he kissed his daughter's forehead before he crushed her as well in one of his hugs.

"Girls, sit" Brian told them

"Yes, please" Roger ushered them towards their chairs.

The girls sat on one side across from the two men.

The men scooped some pasta on the girls plates, while Rachel passed the girl some salad dressing for the side salad.

"So tell us, we're dying to know" Roger spoke up

"Dad" Rachel warned, not wanting to put Quinn on the spot

"What? Sue me if I want to know the details" he teased back

"Roger" the other man also warned

The man leaned across the table towards Quinn, "Not only is he the ugly one but he's the boring one too" he stage whispered, getting the blonde to laugh.

She swallowed her food before beginning to talk, "Rachel and I are working on something for Glee Club, we're partners"

"Partners or _Partners?_" the man asked, only teasing

The blonde laughed again heartily, looking over towards the brunette, "Both I'm hoping" she replied in a bold move

Rachel choked on the water she was sipping, Quinn's hand immediately went to her back to make sure she was okay.

"You okay?" the blonde asked quietly

The brunette gave her a nod, she really wasn't expecting the comment, not that she wasn't doing cartwheels on the inside.

Brian slammed his napkin down on the table, startling the girls "What? Rachel, how could you?" he said in a booming voice, "You know how incredibly homophobic your father is" he finished with a smile

"He's right, I can't have that in this house" the other man joined along

Rachel released her breath, as did Quinn. Both thought that the man was upset for a different reason, considering technically their prior relationship consisted of Quinn bullying their daughter.

"See Quinn, I can be the funny one sometimes" Brian smiled at her

"It's rare, but it does happen" the other man added

Both men smiled at each other brightly.

"I must say, I'm proud of you Rachel" Brian told the girl

The brunette gave him a small smile before he continued, "Although, I won't be able to rough you up a little bit if you break my baby's heart" he added, directing his attention towards Quinn.

"Technically I'm a queen" the other man raised his hand, before pointing his fork at the girl, "So prepare for a catfight"

"Dad, you wouldn't harm a fly" Rachel teased her father

"It's true, he's afraid of them" the other man joked

The rest of the dinner went on in that fashion, Quinn found herself constantly laughing and having an amazing time with the brunette and her family. They were likeable and made the girl feel right at home. They adored their daughter and each other, the blonde almost didn't want to leave when the night came to an end. The brunette ushered her towards the door when one of the men brought out the baby photos, though the blonde very badly wanted to see them, she was promised that she could this weekend when she came back.

Rachel walked her to the door, "let me get shoes on" the brunette told her, "I'll walk you out"

"It's okay" the blonde held the girl in place, the brunette pouted causing Quinn to laugh, "You can watch me leave from the door" she tapped the girls nose

"Thanks for having dinner with me"

"I didn't embarrass you did I?" she asked, nervously

"No, I think my dads managed to do that enough on their own" she rolled her eyes, hinting annoyance

"I loved them" the blonde told the girl adamantly, "don't be embarrassed"

"I can't believe you were okay with telling them about us"

Quinn could only shrug, "I didn't want you to have to hide in your own house" she replied sincerely, "oh my god, were you not ready? I'm so sorry" the blonde covered her mouth with her hand, not even realizing what she'd done.

Rachel pulled her hand down, "Will you stop? You didn't do anything, I'm glad you told them, that they know I mean"

"I'll see you tomorrow?" the blonde asked

"Bright and early" the brunette reminded

The blonde rolled her eyes before bringing her lips to the girls, it was a short kiss, after all they both knew that Rachel's fathers were undoubtedly spying on them from two different corners of the house.

Quinn flashed another smile before she trotted down to the pathway towards her car.

Rachel stayed in the doorway as she waited for the girl to pull away, she stayed there long after the girl had pulled away in fact.

She felt an arm around her from behind, her father escorted her away from the door so that he could shut it.

They walked back into the living room where the other man was drinking a glass of wine.

"She's seems very different from the Quinn you used to talk about, are you sure they're the same girl?" her father Brian asked

The brunette looked at them both in shock, "You remembered?" she asked, hoping they wouldn't

"Do you think we don't listen to you when you come home from school utterly upset?"

She sat on the couch between them, "She's not the same person anymore, she's completely new and she's sincere, and"

"Rach honey, you don't have to explain anything to us" Roger told his daughter, "Sure she gave you a hard time, but she's also the reason for that very big smile on your face recently, and if you say she's a good person, I believe you" he pulled the girl into a hug, "Besides, I really like her, she laughed at my jokes" he told her, getting his daughter to finally laugh.

"Thanks, it means a lot. Your approval"

"If the way she was looking at you is any indication, I would say that she feels pretty strongly about you" the other man told her

A weight was lifted off of the blonde's chest as she drove away, it felt good to have her first admission of feelings for the brunette out loud to receive such a positive response. It definitely helped her realize that she could do this, the real thing. She'd admit that she was nervous upon meeting the girl's fathers, after all they were probably the only friends she had for a very long time, she could tell they were still very protective over her. She went straight to her room upon arriving home. She didn't bother to call the brunette, she'd liked texting the girl the night before, she didn't know what to expect whenever her phone would chime.

Rachel was relieved that her fathers were so forgiving, she felt the hardest part of the relationship was convincing them that Quinn had changed. She wasn't the same girl that she was the previous school year. She'd been nervous to allow the girl to stay for dinner, it certainly surprised her when the blonde agreed to stay for the night. She knew that her parents were a lot to take in upon meeting them but surprisingly they were well tamed, sure they'd embarrassed her a bit but Quinn seemed to enjoy their company. She'd never had a friend over for dinner before, she was too nervous about the rumors they'd start about her the next day, not everyone at McKinley High had two gay parents, that just wasn't press that she wanted.

"Hi" the brunette said as she snuck up behind the blonde while she was at her locker.

Quinn turned around swiftly, flashing a huge grin at the girl, she was hoping that the brunette would seek her out. The blonde was at lunch that day, she'd managed to tame herself long enough for 45 minutes to be in the brunettes company in front of other people. She wasn't sure if it was a good idea, nervous that it would be a dead giveaway to the others that something was up between them. The look on Rachel's face was enough to reassure her that it was all worth it. She shined when she saw the cheerleader walk into the cafeteria, it took Quinn all her effort to only show a smile half the size of the one that she originally wanted to.

"Hi"

Quinn went in to give the girl a hug, Rachel tensed up, unsure if it was actually okay that they were touching in public.

"I was thinking, maybe you could have dinner at my house tomorrow night" the blonde told the girl

Rachel was taken aback at first.

"Are you sure? Is that, okay?"

Quinn shut her locker, shouldering her purse and the two began to walk towards the choir room slowly.

"Yeah I mean, after last night, I really want you to meet my mom" the blonde told her, fiddling with her hands, she didn't know why she was so nervous, she'd gone over in her head what she wanted to say a thousand times while she was in English.

The brunette stayed silent, playing with the straps of her backpack, she didn't know what to say.

The blonde noticed the hesitation and continued to speak, hoping to convince the girl, "I mean, my mom has to work late tonight so she promised tomorrow night, I was thinking since I got to have your favorite dish, well I'll make you mine. And I guess we can work on our song" she added hoping the get some kind of reaction out of the girl, "Please say something"

The brunette stopped a few yards from the choir room door.

"I'd love to Quinn, I'm just surprised is all. I mean last week you didn't even want to be my partner and now last night you're telling my parents you're hoping that we'll be something, it's just—"

"God, I knew you were upset with me about that" the blonde begins to berate herself

"I'm not, I'm just still trying to wrap my head around it all. I'm just afraid one day there will be a slushie behind your back and it will all be a bad joke" the brunette told her honestly

Though the brunette said it through a laugh, Quinn could feel the truth in what she was saying, she understood. It stung the cheerleader, worse than she thought it would have. It wasn't the words that hurt her but the skepticism and sadness in the brunette's tone.

"Hey" the blonde reached out for her arm, pulling her towards the side of the hallway, "I would never do that to you"

The brunette gave her a look, the blonde rolled her eyes, "ever again" she added for the girl, "You have my word, I would never hurt you intentionally like that" she told the girl, looking into her eyes so she could feel the depth of the blonde's promise. "I may not be ready to tell the world about us, this is new for me. But I don't want you to think that because I'm not ready doesn't mean I don't want this. I want to do it right, without the pressure from everyone else"

"I understand, I'm not ready for that press either. Though I don't know how much longer we can keep Kurt off of our trail. He's a bloodhound when it comes to stuff like this"

The blonde laughed heartily, before turning serious again, "You have to understand, not being able to kiss your doubt away right now is driving me wild" she sighed

They both shared a small laugh, Rachel shook her head, "Sorry, I didn't mean for it to just get so heavy, I gladly accept your invitation to join you for dinner at your home"

Quinn flashed her a full smile, "good because I wasn't going to take no for an answer" she teased

They picked up their pace again and started walking towards the choir room once again. The blonde saw someone walking toward them from the opposite end of the hallway, her smiled quickly turned into a scowl. The brunette next to her seemed to be blissfully unaware and she was ushered into the room, the cheerleader following her.

They took their seats as they waited for Mr. Schuester to come in and give them direction. After about 5 minutes of idle chatter, the teacher finally came in.

"Rachel"

"Yes Mr. Schuester" she asked, nervous that she was in trouble

"Jesse is outside in the hallway asking for you" he told her, scanning his eyes over the rest of the group, "He wants to speak with you"

The rest of the club looked on with eager eyes, although each was scared they were going to be in trouble for the stunt they pulled the weekend prior.

Quinn watched the girl, trying to act indifferent but it was proving to be a difficult task. Her eyes were trained on the back of the girl as she walked away slowly out into the hallway, out of everyone's ear shot.

"What's that punk even doing here?" Puck muttered under his breath with disgust.

"I heard he stayed back, since Shelby adopted your baby and all" Kurt announced as he studied his cuticles.

"I'm gonna go beat his face in" Puck announced decidedly

"Enough" the teacher halted him.

Mr. Schuester began to discuss something but the entire classroom wasn't paying attention, too worried about the girl out there with the devil himself. They all knew that she forgave easily, too easily. Quinn's mind was reeling, she didn't trust the boy an ounce. She knew he was bad for the girl, playing with her mind; convincing her that he was good just to crush her in the end. It was sadistic really, the blonde was being selfish in that moment, not wanting the girl to get hurt. She was completely overlooking the fact that the brunette gave her a second chance.

She walked back in almost a minute later, avoiding everyone's gaze, including the blondes.

"What'd he want?" Puck found himself asking, the rest of the room thankful that he asked, the elephant in the room was far too much for their drama deprived bodies.

"He only asked to meet me at a later time" she started, "to discuss things" she added the last part, waiting for the backlash.

Almost the entire room groaned or rolled their eyes, including Mr. Schuester.

"It's just dinner, nothing will happen. I just want to hear what he has to say" she said defensively, looking around to stare at all of them.

She hadn't known why she'd agreed to meet, she knew that no one would be thrilled of the news, but she couldn't turn her back without hearing what he had to say.

"After all that he's done to you?" Quinn asked, unable to keep her mouth shut.

"Like you care about Rachel" Puck commented

"No, Quinn's right." Mercedes spoke up, "He's a complete jerk Rachel"

"Yeah, how do you know that this isn't a set up again" Tina asked worried

The blonde was happy that she wasn't the only one that was upset by this news.

"I appreciate everyone's concern, I really do. But this is something I need to do, who am I to assume his motive, for all I know, he could be offering a peace treaty, or an apology. At the very least I should hear what he has to say" the brunette replied calmly, as to not get too worked up over this.

"at the very least?" the blonde scoffed "So what, if he tells you he loves you, you'll go right back to him?"

Everyone's eyes widened and directly went to the visibly upset blonde; to say they were confused at the sudden outburst was no exaggeration.

"What? Quinn no, why would you assume that" she asked spinning around to face the girl who was uncharacteristically seated next to her.

The blonde stood up from the chair she'd been clutching onto with white knuckles, unable to sit still anymore. She began pacing back and forth, muttering things under her breath. She'd completely lost her mind and she didn't care who was witness to it, at least not in this moment. She was far to heated to see logic and reason.

"Jesse is gay Rachel!" Quinn shouted finally

Everyone's eyes went wide, including Kurt's, who should have known all along.

The brunette took in her words, "Why would you say such a thing?" she asked, disbelieving

"Because I saw him kissing the guy when we were tee-peeing his house" she told her, accidentally letting Mr. Schuester know of their deed.

"That's impossible" the brunette said shaking her head, not willing to believe it still.

The blonde stopped pacing to stare at the other girl incredulously; she couldn't believe that the brunette wouldn't trust her in this. Oh, she was mad.

"Why else do you think I would kiss you Rach, I was trying to distract you"

The truth was out.

Few things happened in the next moment. The blonde continued to stare at the brunette, her eyes unwavering. The brunette tried to look away, but she was rendered powerless against the cheerleader she'd grown so close to over the past few days.

"Why else? You mean, it was just, it was just a.." Rachel tried to control her overflowing emotions, realizing that Quinn's motives had an ulterior purpose, that the kiss wouldn't have happened in a million years otherwise.

The blonde's eyes went wide when she realized what she had said, she never meant for it to sound like that, like it didn't mean anything to her, that it was all a lie. That she didn't want to kiss the girl, because she wanted to. The truth stung Rachel, it stung the blonde just as badly.

"You and _Rach_?" Finn asked after some silence, pointing back and forth utterly confused, "Kissed?"

It was then that the girls realized they were very much not alone, every pair of eyes were on them, watchful and stunned at the same time. They couldn't believe it, not even with all of the weird happenings between the girls, they never would have guessed in a million years that was what was really going on. So many things were going on throughout the minds of the rest of the group members, re-thinking the rare occurrences, remembering Quinn's mood swing over Rachel's food, remembering the girls shared a room at the sleep over, the smiles the blonde seemed to be wearing more and more, even her sudden change in the seating arrangement. Rachel's toned down demeanor should have been the biggest indicator, or the fact that Quinn was suddenly over protective of the girl she once loathed. Kurt especially felt stupid, missing such the obvious clue in the conversation he had with the cheerleader just days before.

The cheerleader gasped, it was all she could do. As she studied the faces staring back at her, she recognized that they had realized and fully grasped just how serious this was. That this wasn't just a kiss, that this was much bigger than that. They looked at her, waiting to see what she would do next, she couldn't take it. She needed get out of there so that's what she did. She left the room without another word, running through the hallways without paying attention to where she was going. She pushed the door open to the outside and continued to run, until her calves started to burn and her lungs were about to give out. She couldn't believe all that just happened in the past 5 minutes, a day that started out so well managed to derail, crash and burn in the blink of an eye. She couldn't imagine what Rachel was dealing with right now, under scrutiny from the rest of the club, her heart ached for the girl but she couldn't show her face again after that.

She felt just about the same as when everyone found out that she was pregnant, only somewhat worse, she managed to hurt someone she cared about on the way down.


	4. Chapter 4

**So sorry! I went away for the weekend and completely forgot to post the last part :-/ Here's the conclusion, thank you all for your interest in this story, I will definitely be writing and posting more Faberry stories, also look out for my next one-shot series entitled, Jukebox Shuffle. It will be a collection of non-related one shots based off of songs, of course featuring Quinn and Rachel. Once again, thank you so much and I hope you enjoy!**

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The cheerleader lost all sense of direction, she didn't know where her sudden outburst came from, she had no right at all to act that way. She had no right to question the brunette's decisions, she had no right to out them in such a public setting. She knew that Rachel was probably very much upset with her actions and she just couldn't face her in that moment. She'd never even thought about why she'd kissed the girl in the first place, she only thought about how it made her feel. She never meant for it to come out like a stab at the fragile and petite girl. Her tears streamed down her face, inhaling heavily constantly trying to catch her breath, she was an absolute mess.

Quinn couldn't understand where these feelings came from. In fact, she was having a hard time understanding how it was that she was in this predicament in the first place, let alone remembering her life before the Glee Club. The head cheerleader had it all at one point in her seemingly perfect life, she was the head of the celibacy club, queen of the school, her and her oblivious boyfriend were the power couple, she was the it girl. Sometimes when she thinks back to her previous life, she can pinpoint the exact moment when her life fell into shambles, the moment her boyfriend, Finn, took a leap of faith and joined the small, yet socially suicidal Glee Club. As a matter of fact, she could credit the club to her eventual and unavoidable downfall, it was after all the reason that everything happened in the first place. It was the reason she was willing to give her previous life up, it was the reason her veins were pumping with regret and heartache, most importantly, it was the reason that the girl was starting to fall in love with the brunette she once despised.

There was no way the blonde could show her face back in that room, she couldn't face Rachel either, not after that. She didn't even care that her purse and car keys were still trapped in that claustrophobic room, she'd walk home if it meant avoiding the entire situation.

"Hi honey, I didn't hear you pull up" the elder woman told her from the couch where she was reading documents, she glanced at her watch, "And you're home early" she replied taking off her eye glasses to see her daughter more clearly, "Is everything okay dear? You look like you've been crying" the woman said a little more alarmed

"That's because I have been" the blonde replied dryly

"What's going on?" the woman asked as she approached the girl

"You wouldn't understand" Quinn attempted to move around the woman but she had her feet firmly planted in front of her.

"Try me" the woman said

The blonde was already upset; her mother was starting to aggravate her. All she wanted to do was be alone, sulk in her room and listen to sad music.

"What are you even doing home?" she asked bitterly

"I felt bad about dinner" she told her

"Yeah well don't bother" the blonde once again attempted to get to her room

"Quinn, talk to me"

"Why so you can overreact and kick me out of your house again? No thanks"

"Now hold it right there" Mrs. Fabray told her daughter, "What was that for?"

"I'm gay Mom" she yelled, "Yup, perfect catholic daughter, not only got pregnant, but she has feelings for a girl. Now that you know, can I please go to my room to pack for whatever reform school you're sending me to"

Mrs. Fabray's eyes went wide, unable to speak, she didn't know what to say. Clearly her daughter was in distress and needed her mother. The blonde stalked off up the staircase before she could speak and the woman finally flinched when she heard the door slam close.

Quinn felt a fresh new wave of tears come after she closed her door. She knew her mother didn't deserve that, it wasn't fair in the least bit. But she was angry and she needed someone to take it out on. She should feel relief that her mother knew but all she felt was even worse. She crashed onto her bed, her body raking with sobs as she cried into her pillow.

The blonde had no idea how long she stayed like that on her bed, every time she'd calm down, something would trigger a fresh batch of tears. She couldn't remember falling asleep, she didn't even know what time it was when she actually did. Judging by the untouched, cold food on her bedside table, she'd assumed it was sometime before her mother brought her up something to eat for dinner. She smiled wearily at the gesture, at least it wasn't a note saying she was to be out of the house by the time she got home from work. The blonde sighed, contemplating staying in her bed for the remainder of the day, hoping to just skip school completely. Her perfect plan was shot down when she realized that she couldn't hide forever, there would be more speculation if she didn't show up at school than if she did. At least she knew if she was in school, no one would dare talk about her, and if they did, well then she would know what they were saying about her.

She finally got up and got into the shower, attempting to remain stone faced as practice for the day to come. By 2nd period, she'd wished she would have stayed in bed. She couldn't take the stares and eyes on her constantly. If there was someone from Glee club in the same room as her, she could guarantee that their eyes were watching her every move. She'd yet to see the brunette, she hadn't figured out if that was a good thing or a bad thing. She eventually decided that the brunette wanted nothing to do with her and that was far worse than anything else she could have experienced. Her heartache grew with each passing minute.

"Fabray" Mercedes waved in front of her face for what seemed like the 5th time, "Did you hear what I said?"

The blonde was so zoned out that she didn't see Mercedes approach her at her locker, let alone that she had been speaking to the girl for lord only knows how long.

"Sorry what?" she asked

"Did you get your car and bag? Kurt and I dropped it off after practice, and well your mother said you weren't available" the girl repeated

"Oh" the blonde hadn't even realized that she had her car and bag back, she'd completely forgotten that she walked the entire way home, "Yeah I did, thank you"

Mercedes gave her a nod, "Listen, Quinn"

The blonde knew where this was going, she slammed her locker, "I have to go" she told the girl before walking away from anything her friend had to say.

She moved through the halls like a zombie, avoiding eye contact with everyone that passed by her, for once she wished she was invisible.

The brunette was desperately searching for the cheerleader, she'd come up unsuccessful thus far, much to her dismay. She needed to see the girl, talk to her in person, and discuss what was going on between them. She had to admit that it hurt a severe amount to find out everything, and in that manner. Once Quinn left the choir room the day before, the brunette was left to fend for herself. Every eye was on her, waiting for anything she could give them, something that would make sense to them. She couldn't give them that, because it didn't make sense, not even to her. She didn't know how everything got so out of control so fast but it was for her and the cheerleader to discuss. She respectfully declined everyone's invitation to talk as they approached her the next day and continued her search for the blonde.

At the end of the day, she knew it was her last chance. She knew the girl was in school, practically every person in Glee had told her that they'd seen her. She knew that she would have to go to her locker after school, she also knew there was a very good chance she wouldn't go to the choir room after school so it was her only shot to talk to the girl. Just as she expected, the cheerleader was hurriedly loading her purse with various books she'd need to bring home. Rachel took a deep breath, preparing herself for the worst and took a hesitant step forward before gaining the courage to approach the girl.

"We need to talk"

At the sound of the girl's voice, Quinn was both startled and relieved. She'd missed it far more than she wanted to admit; just proof enough that she was in way over her head.

"What do you want, Berry?" the girl asked, wincing at how cruel she sounded

Rachel dodged the blatant diss, she knew that this was her defense mechanism; she wasn't going to allow Quinn to put up one of her walls on her. Anything that she would say, deep down the brunette knew she didn't mean it.

"Quinn, look at me" the brunette said more softly

She could tell the blonde was avoiding her gaze, she could also tell that there were serious tears in her beautiful eyes that were very close to making their presence known.

"I can't do this, not here" she told the girl before shutting her locker, "I'm so sorry I hurt you" she choked out before walking away from the brunette

It felt weird to not be going to the choir room after school, but the blonde knew that it would have just been torturous. She wasn't ready for it quite yet, she'd hoped she would be able to go tomorrow, but the thought of having to sing the duet with Rachel prevented her from getting too far ahead of herself.

The blonde saw her mother's car in the driveway, knowing that she was home, she made her best effort to slip into the house and get to her room quietly without alerting the woman that she was home. She'd truly felt bad about her outburst but she wasn't ready to deal with the consequences just yet. As she attempted to do some of her homework, she heard a small knock on the door, it was just as well, her paper was covered in little doodles and song lyrics that were stuck in her mind.

Her mom came in slowly and sat down on her bed, next to where the girl was laying on her stomach. She began rubbing her back soothingly.

"I messed up Mom" she told her, feeling the tears coming tenfold

"Oh Quinnie" her mom whispered, "It's all going to be okay" she told the girl

"You're not mad at me?" she asked

"Of course not" the woman told her, "And I'm sorry for what happened to you in the past, I wasn't there for you when you needed your mother, but I'm here now" the elder woman felt her emotions get the best of her.

Quinn sat up on the bed, giving her mom a tight hug as she cried into her shoulders.

The blonde told her mother everything, from the party to the outburst, to Jesse's intentions to dinner with her parents, anything that she could think of. Her mother sat and listened with an open mind, finding it much easier than she thought possible. The news that her daughter liked another girl blindsided her, once the shock wore off however she knew that her Quinnie was just a scared and confused girl, she needed guidance and advice.

The woman placed a kiss on the girls forehead, "You'll discover who you are, you'll work this out, and when you do, I'll still love you… no matter what" she told the girl truthfully, "She sounds like an amazing person, it'd be a shame for you to let her slip away from you like that"

The blonde could only sigh, all things that she already knew.

"I better get started on dinner, I still plan on making you your favorite" the woman told her

"It's okay Mom, you don't have to do that. I'm pretty sure Rachel won't come near me again, I doubt she'd still come over for dinner" Quinn replied

Her mother smiled sadly at her daughter as she gently closed the door. She'd never seen her daughter so emotional and lost, it broke her heart.

Quinn smiled to herself, despite everything else that was going on, it finally felt good that her mother accepted her and she was able to tell her things she didn't possibly think she'd be able to disclose. She continued to do her homework, hopefully to keep her mind off of things, she smiled to herself when she could smell the aura of her favorite meal lingering up the stair case and into her room.

There was another timid knock on the door, "Mom, I think I'm all talked out for one day" she told her mother as she smiled to herself, doodling in her notebook

"Not your Mom" Rachel spoke up quietly

Quinn's heart stopped and she immediately sat up on the bed, "What are, you, um what are you doing here?" she asked tilting her head, somewhat shocked, very much confused and relieved all the same.

"You invited me for dinner, I hope that offer still stands" she replied shyly

The blonde was playing with her hands as she looked down towards her bed, "Um Yeah, I mean I just didn't think I'd see you"

"You were the one avoiding me" the brunette reminded the girl as she boldly sat at the foot of the girl's bed.

Quinn looked down, embarrassed and mad at herself for acting that way towards the girl.

"Look, Quinn" the brunette began

"You scare me" the blonde cut in, she saw the confused look on the singer's face and continued, not sure where she was going but decided to follow her heart, "you don't scare me, what you make me feel scares me, and the fact that you're the one making me feel this way is scary. I don't know how this all happened but all I know is that I'm not the same person I used to be, I'm nice, and, and, caring. I hang on every word you say to me, you knock the wind out of me with just one look. I can't tell you how incredibly scary this is for me. I stopped caring about my popularity and started caring about the people around me, you most importantly. I didn't mean for you to find out about Jesse like that, I didn't mean to make it seem like that was the only reason I kissed you. I know damn well that I could have done thousands of things to stop you from looking in that window, I kissed you because deep down I wanted to. You'd just got done telling me about your feelings for him and I couldn't let him hurt you, crush you like that once again. I listen to your rants because you amuse me, I'm cold because I don't want people to find out the truth, and I kissed you because I wanted to know what it would be like. I never thought any of this would happen, don't get me wrong, I'm glad it did, I just never expected to fall for you like this"

"Fall for me?" the brunette asked, finally able to get a word in edgewise

"No, I mean yeah." She sighed, "I'm close to it, my heart has never raced so fast, I've never been speechless, I've never let anyone in. It hasn't even been a week yet, I can't possibly be falling for you, it's just not right. You're Rachel Berry and I'm Quinn freaking Fabray Ugh, Yes okay? I'm falling for you, I Quinn freaking Fabray am falling for you Rachel Berry"

"Wow"

"I know"

"Who's ranting now?" the brunette smirked

"You do that to me"

"It's incredibly sexy" the girl told her with mischievous eyes.

The blonde couldn't respond, she didn't know what to say. All she could feel was the blood rushing to her face and her heart beat picking up.

"Speechless?" Rachel asked inching forward with newfound boldness, noticing the effect her words had on the girl.

"Ugh" the blonde screamed, throwing her hands up in the air and falling onto the bed on her back.

The brunette's laugh rang through the room, she repositioned herself so that she was peering over the girl on the bed.

"For the record, I sent Puck and Finn to meet with Jesse in my place, the only reason I agreed to meet with him in the first place, was so that I could tell him I was over him, that I've finally moved on to someone far, far more better. Puck and Finn enjoyed telling him how it happened" the brunette smiled.

"I should have trusted you" the blonde admitted shamefully

"That may be the case, but I should have also trusted you" the girl smiled even wider, backing up a little.

"Is, is that why you came here? To tell me that?" the blonde asked, hoping that wasn't the only reason.

"I came here, to tell you that I've been miserable, that I never thought I'd miss you, Quinn freaking Fabray, as much as I have in the past day. And that if you ever, _ever_ ignore me like that again, I won't be so forgiving next time" the brunette told the girl, lowering herself once again closer and closer to the blonde, sultry written all over her voice.

Quinn could only moan at the bravery the brunette was exhibiting, she had seconds to take in the girl's words before she felt their lips join. The contact nearly made the blonde pass out; she immediately responded to the movements and attempted to pull Rachel even closer to her. The brunette's bare leg slip in between the blonde's, putting significant pressure on her center, creating a wave of pleasure and whimpers elicited from the cheerleader. She was incredibly turned on, and once again in a matter of 5 minutes everything had changed drastically in the blink of an eye.

Both of their hands were wandering over the other girl's body, gripping clothing and grasping at whatever they could hold onto. Their foreheads were melded together as each kiss brought about a new wave of passion. Their movements slowed into something more gentle, the pace set was fragile, both taking advantage of the each other. The brunette moved back first, the blonde's eyes were still shut, still mesmerized by the girl above her.

"I don't think I could" she said, panting.

The brunette looked down in confusion.

Quinn swallowed, "Ignore you again, I don't think I could" she clarified

Slender fingers reached up and pulled Rachel back on top of her, both getting lost in each other's presence once again, not wanting to waste any moment of alone time. So lost in fact, that neither heard the many calls from Mrs. Fabray about dinner, it wasn't until the knock on the door that they'd realized just how far away from reality they were.

The girls laughed into each other, ducking their heads in each other's necks to hide their embarrassment; luckily Mrs. Fabray left it at a knock. Quinn was grateful that her mother was accepting of her relationship with the brunette but she was processing it still, she doubted that seeing the two in a passionate and heated lip lock would make matters easier for her.

The two straightened their clothing out and fixed their hair and makeup, they needed to look somewhat presentable. The last thing the brunette wanted was for Quinn's mother to have her first impression of the girl be the one that was just taking serious advantage of her prodigal daughter.

The blonde took in the girl's appearance, seeing skinny jeans, a black shirt and semi-high heels. Her eyebrow raised as raked her eyes over her.

Rachel saw the way the blonde was staring at her hungrily and decided to offer up an explanation for her blatant change of appearance.

"I was hoping it would get your attention in school" she shrugged

Quinn cooed at the girl, running her fingers through her brown wavy hair.

"The quicker we eat, the quicker we can come back up here" she whispered

They linked hands and began to make their way down the stairs to eat the food that was surely cold by now.

"Oh shit" the blonde deadpanned, stopping movement.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Rachel asked concerned.

"My mom knows" she told her, "About us, is that…okay?"

The brunette could only give the girl a full grin, "Of course, I wouldn't want you to hide in your own house" she replied teasing, recalling the reason Quinn gave her just two nights ago.

"Mom" Quinn spoke up, releasing the girl's hand as they approached the table, "This is Rachel"

The woman smiled and shook the girls hand once again, "We've met, but it's nice to be properly introduced"

"It's very nice to meet you Mrs. Fabray"

The woman began to laugh as they all sat down. Both girls looked at her with questioning eyes.

"Oh I apologize, it's just that the last time Quinnie had someone over for dinner, well we found out she was pregnant"

"Yes, and as you can see, that's humorous to my mother" Quinn told the girl next to her

"Oh stop it, I'm just making a note, dinners with you are never boring" she told the girls and winked at Rachel, "Now tell me Rachel, how it is you've managed to tame my daughter and what is your secret?"

The brunette blushed profusely, "Well, I'll tell you if you insist on knowing" she started

"That won't be necessary" Quinn cut in, quite quickly.

They all shared a laugh, and began eating their food. The conversation flowed casually, never faltering and it never became awkward, all parties involved were grateful for that. Like her daughter, Mrs. Fabray grew amused with the brunette, finding her stories and tales funny and enlightening. She'd never seen her daughter so smitten with someone, she'd never seen her glow so much, besides of course when her baby was born a few short months ago.

After dinner and dessert, and _dessert_¸ the blonde walked Rachel out to her car, wishing the night wasn't over but knew it was getting late.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" the brunette asked

"Yes, definitely tomorrow" Quinn told her, "I promise"

The brunette nodded and turned to step off of the sidewalk, the blonde pulled her back and into a hug, giving the girl a kiss on the cheek before she went home.

"I'll call you in an hour"

"Hopefully sooner" the brunette winked before getting into her car and driving off.

The blonde stayed on the sidewalk until she could no longer see the girl's tail lights, before turning back and going inside; almost immediately texting the brunette upon returning to her bedroom. They talked until neither one could keep their eyes open any longer, only hanging up when it was decided that they would get breakfast the following morning.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Rachel asked the blonde, making sure that she wasn't going to regret this.

The blonde only reached down and grabbed the hand that belonged to the brunette, giving the answer to her question with the simple gesture.

The brunette was still hesitant but trusted the blonde's answer; they both gave a side glance to each other before the blonde pushed open one of the double doors, introducing them into the main school hallway. She'd made up her mind last night that this was happening that day, she wasn't going to hide it any longer, her stomach had been butterflies all morning. One thing that the blonde could smirk about however was the fact that people were once again literally moving out of her way as she and the brunette walked down the hallway, fierce and not fooling around.

Half the people they passed had their mouths open in shock, the other half were whispering to their friends. They couldn't say that they didn't love the attention, their smirks were proof of that, and they had to admit, they did look hot. Rachel seemed to be pleased with the reaction that the jeans got out of the blonde and opted for them once again, she normally only wore them when performing when they were part of the costume.

They arrived at the blonde's locker so that she could get some of her books, the staring died down a bit but it came right back as soon as Quinn shut her locker and leaned in to give Rachel a kiss. The brunette was a little caught off but she couldn't say that she wasn't warned that this might happen, it's what they talked about over breakfast after all. Their kiss was in no way chaste, in fact, a few kids had enough time to get their cell phones out to take a picture of the exchange.

The blonde pulled back with a smirk on her face, the brunette was still dazed. The blonde moved some of the brown hair over the girls shoulder while leaning in to whisper to the girl.

"Like ripping off a band aid" she told her, placing an innocent kiss on her cheek, "I'll see you at lunch" she told her as she dropped the girl's hand while pulling back and walked backwards down the hall, staring intently at the brunette.

Rachel was flushed, it felt good. That morning when they met for breakfast, Quinn had told her what she wanted to do, at first the brunette was apprehensive but she trusted the girl. She told her that if they wanted to be themselves that they would need to just do it, all at once, like ripping a band aid off. Sure people would be shocked but at least it was over with, so that's what they intended to do. So far, it was working, people were definitely shocked.

Rachel was looked at differently throughout the rest of the day, as was Quinn. Both girls tried not to let it affect them, they also didn't hold out when they were together. Lunch was an experience for everyone.

"So, are we being punked?" Artie asked the girls, the table nodded enthusiastically, unable to tear their eyes off of the two girls in front of them, sharing laughs and whispering into each other's ears.

"What makes you say that?" Rachel asked, "Is Ashton here?" she asked a little more excitedly, beginning to stand up to get a better look around the cafeteria.

Quinn laughed, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder, getting her to settle down, "I think he means because of us, they want to know if we're punking them" the blonde told her

"Oh. No we're not, next question"

"Threesome?" Puck asked

The two girls looked at each other, communicating with their eyes.

Quinn reached out and stroked his hand, "Puck…" she told him above a whisper, leaning across the table to get closer to him, Puck involuntarily leaned closer in anticipation. "If you continue to look at Rachel like that, I'm going to castrate you" she told him as she smacked him over the back of the head.

"That was just mean" he told her, grunting as he sat back down.

The two girls smiled at each other, the blonde reaching for a sip of the brunette's water as Rachel grabbed one of Quinn's pretzels.

Mercedes spoke next, "are you guys just doing this to get back at Mr. Shue for making you partners?"

"Valid question Mercedes, and no we're not" Rachel answered this time

Kurt began laughing, "Oh this is rich" he slapped his knee, "That means that Puck turned you both gay"

The rest of the table began to laugh, including the girls. The boy in question however was not amused.

"Does not, ask Santana"

"Yeah okay buddy, then ask Brittany" Mercedes teased the boy

"You guys suck" he told the table before getting up, he turned around at the last minute, "But seriously the threesome?" he wiggled his eyebrows

Both girls visibly gagged.

"Get out of my sight" Quinn barked at the boy before he almost ran out of the cafeteria.

"So this is for real?" Tina asked

"For real" both girls replied at the same time, sharing a smile.

Quinn reached for the brunette's hand under the table, where their hands stayed together for the remainder of the lunch period.

The last bell of the day rang loud through the school and the girls sighed relief when they realized that the day was over. They wouldn't have to deal with the stares or the whispers for a moment longer, and they had the weekend to do whatever they wanted.

Both girls walked into the choir room, hand in hand. Mr. Schuester was already at the front of the room, he seemed to be expecting the two girls to be together but was still surprised none the less.

"Do you two understand just how big of a splash you made today?" he asked

Both girls laughed at the man's comments.

"I have to say that I didn't believe it when I first heard it but here you are"

He then clapped loudly, "Okay who wants to go first" he asked the group once the girls took their seat.

Everyone's eyes went to the pair in the front row, they were all eager to see what they've cooked up.

Rachel's hand went up, and everyone sat on the edge of their seats, waiting with bated breath.

"Shit, I completely forgot about the assignment, we haven't even practiced" Quinn hushed out in a whisper

"Not to worry, I've changed it to a solo performance" the girl told her, tapping her on the nose and standing up.

Quinn looked around confused but decided that she was interested in what the girl was going to sing. Rachel made her way to the center of the class room.

"Puck, if you'd be so kind" she gestured to the guitar

The boy rose and walked down to strap up and sat in a stool just beyond the brunette, tuning the guitar to perfection.

The brunette cleared her throat, "Originally our musical choice to describe our relationship was by the great Leona Lewis, written by boy band member Jesse McCartney, entitled Bleeding Love. In light of recent events, it was unclear whether or not this would be feasible considering both parties involved weren't speaking temporarily. The show must go on, and since this was not composed as a duet and the original song was in fact a bit forward"

"Um just a little" Santana retorted from the back

"I had chosen to take a different approach in coaxing my partner out of hiding, hoping she would talk to me. If you must know, which I'm sure you simply must and I'm sure you can already see, we are speaking again. Regardless, this is something she needs to hear and I'll assume that you'll want to hear it as well. Thank you"

She gave the blonde a smile before nodding to Puck, signaling that she was ready.

The boy began to strum his guitar, the familiar tune of Train's Soul Sister carried through the stale air of the choir room and almost the entire group began to bob their head.

Rachel began to sing the words, making full eye contact with the blonde in front of her.

Quinn couldn't help but laugh at the girl's gestures to go along with the words.

By the chorus, the entire club was singing along, including the blonde herself. And by the 2nd verse, Quinn joined Rachel in the middle, this time taking over the singing. The rest of the club eventually came out onto the floor to clap and dance along with the girls, occasionally adding back up. Finn even felt the need to help out Puck and began drumming in the background.

The entire room was in utter chaos, moving to the music and having a great time. They were singing because they wanted to, not because they had to.

Once the song was over, the girl's took their seats, out of breath and Quinn couldn't erase the smile from her face if she tried. They sat and listened to the other songs, almost every time the entire club got up to dance with the group that was singing. It was the most fun they'd had in a long time.

"Okay, okay good work you guys, I think that you really understood what this assignment was about and I'm very pleased with the results. Now, next week's groups"

The entire class groaned, Quinn slid her chair closer to the brunette, resting her head on Rachel's shoulder, neither girl worried about a thing, they had each other…finally.


End file.
